


Pretending to Pretend

by whoneedsapublisher



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Also the rest of μs is there, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Older Nico and Maki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-01-09 04:57:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12269361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoneedsapublisher/pseuds/whoneedsapublisher
Summary: Maki has graduated medical school, and is in position to become the heir to the Nishikino hospital business. However, there's a catch- and Nico gets roped into a grand deception that's a little more personal than she would have liked.





	1. The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a tumblr request for some fake dating NicoMaki

Nico fought to keep from gritting her teeth and put on a shining smile. “We’re dating now. Right, Maki?”

* * *

 

It had all started out innocently enough.

Maki had graduated from med school, and her family was throwing a ball to celebrate her becoming the heir to the family hospital. Maki had invited μs to come along. So far, so normal. It had been years since the nine of them had gotten together. After μs had disbanded, they’d all followed their own paths, and those paths had taken them all over the country- or even outside of it, like Kotori’s fashion career. They kept in touch to some extent, but Nico hadn’t seen some of their faces for a long time. Maki being one of them, as she’d devoted herself completely to her studies ever since leaving high school. Nico, having been busy most of that time with her own career, had barely ever gotten to a chance to see her.

Given that fact, it was strange that Maki had sent her a special invitation saying that she had something to talk to her about. Still, while it was odd, Nico had no particular reason to refuse, and as requested showed up a few days earlier than the rest of μs to meet Maki at the hotel they’d be staying at.

That was when Maki revealed what she had to talk about, and Nico very nearly turned around and went right back home.

“You want me to  _ what? _ ” Nico asked.

Maki sighed and rubbed her temples. “Look, this isn’t easy for me to ask, Nico,” she said. “Trust me when I say that I wouldn’t be asking if there was a better option.”

“But… I mean,  _ why? _ ”

Maki sighed again. “The Nishikino family is very concerned with continuing their dynasty,” she said patiently. “In order to become the heir, I have to prove that I will carry on the family.” She recited it as if she was reading from a book. How many times had Maki been told this, Nico wondered. Enough that she could recite it by heart, anyway.

“In order to prove this, I must, by the time I am named heir, have done one of three things. One, be married already. Two, be actively dating and prove that I am trying to find someone who would be an acceptable addition to the Nishikino family. Or three, sign a contract agreeing to marry a suitor selected by the Nishikino family.”

Nico’s eyebrows shot up, but before she could say anything, Maki continued. “If I fail to do any of these by the time I am named heir, my inheritance will be indefinitely postponed until I do one of these things. Should the current holder of the Nishikino estates pass away during this time, the inheritance will be passed to the next in the line who has fulfilled these requirements, and I will receive an allowance in accordance with my station, but lose all chance to rejoin the line of succession.”

Nico was, for once, lost for words. Maki had never mentioned anything like this before. Nico had known her family was traditional, but this level of obsession with dynasty building in this day and age? It defied belief.

“As you're doubtless aware," Maki said, her voice dripping with sarcasm “I am not currently married. Nor do I plan to waste my time looking for a suitable partner when I need to be focussing on my career. So that's why I'm asking you to do this. If you pretend we're dating until I everything is secure, I'll be safe to inherit the hospital.”

Nico shook her head. “Jeez, Maki, your sense of humour is as terrible as ever. I know Nico Ni is the number one idol in everyone's heart, but there's better ways to ask a girl out.”

Maki gave her a withering look. It was a lot more intimidating than Nico remembered. Maybe it was because she'd gotten even taller and Nico hadn't. Or maybe Maki had been practicing her glares on innocent classmates.

“Fine, you're serious, but it's still crazy,” Nico said, crossing her arms.

“Is that a no?”

“Why would it be a yes?!”

Maki looked deflated, to a degree that surprised Nico. Surely she hadn’t actually expected Nico to agree to this ridiculous farce, had she?

“Fine. Then I'll sign the contract,” she said.

Nico stared at her, mouth agape.

Maki met her gaze unflinchingly. “Nico, do you know why I was so busy during med school?”

Nico shrugged, caught off guard by the sudden change of subject. “Med school is hard?”

Maki sniffed dismissively. “Not  _ that _ hard. Not everyone struggles with schoolwork as much as you.”

Nico started to protest, but Maki cut her off. “It was because I was also taking courses in administration.” She leaned closer to Nico with determination in her eyes. “The Nishikino hospital deals with thousands of patients. I didn't work this hard to let my idiot cousin run it like a business and treat their welfare as a secondary concern. If that means enduring an arranged marriage, then so be it.”

Maki sounded so adult and cold when she talked like this.

It was faintly absurd.

“Why are you acting all tough? You believed in Santa until you were  _ nineteen _ ,” Nico said.

Maki blushed. “T-That's different!” she protested, her composure lost. “Look, the point is, I don't have time to set up someone else suitable and I'm not leaving this to chance.”

Wait, hold on…

“What do you mean ‘set up’? Couldn't you just ask someone else in μs?” Nico asked suspiciously.

Maki shook her head. “The Nishikinos won't accept someone I just started dating this weekend. I told them we were dating a year ago, and it was secret because of your career.”

“WHAT?” Unbelievable. She said it so casually, like it was completely natural. “Are you insane? What if they'd gone to the press?”

Maki pursed her lips. “I'm not completely stupid, Nico. I didn't mention a name. I told them it was because I didn't want to risk a scandal. But another member of μs? What am I supposed to say, ‘oh, I didn't want to risk Honoka’s  _ baking career _ with a romance scandal’?”

She shrugged. “I can always say me and the mysterious famous person broke up without ever revealing names, but if I do reveal a name, yours is the only one that fits.”

Nico frowned. “How am I even ‘suitable’, anyway?” she asked, switching tactics. “I don’t remember being heir to anything, and I don’t think a family that’s as traditional as yours is going to accept you having a  _ wife _ instead of a husband.”

Maki shook her head.

“The Nishikinos may care about lineage, but only theirs. As long as they’re someone of sufficiently high station, it’s not important what the bloodline of my spouse is. And as for you being a woman, well.”

Maki shrugged. “It is a family of doctors. The concept of artificial insemination isn't alien to anyone. You're rich and famous, and luckily they don't account for taste so your…” Maki gestured vaguely at Nico in an insulting manner. “... _ other  _ qualities don't matter as long as you can act presentable.”

Ignoring Nico’s glare, Maki paused and then continued in a lower voice. “...I’m not close enough to any men to ask them a favour like this, anyway,” she admitted. “I didn’t exactly make a lot of friends in med school.”

“Aw, why ever not? You’re rich and beautiful, surely they could ignore your…” Nico sarcastically mimicked Maki’s gesture “...’other qualities’.”

Maki rolled her eyes. “I was too busy studying to make friends,” she said primly. “More people should have done the same. Anyway, even if I had met anyone, you’re still the best actress I know, and the best candidate for a trophy wife.”

Nico leered. “Oh? Is that reaaaally why?” she teased. “Maybe you’re just in love with Nico Ni~!”

Maki made a face at her. “Absolutely not.”

As it happened, Nico really was the best actress Maki knew. She was such a good actress that when Maki said that, she just laughed. Her smile didn’t waver. None of the hurt showed on her face.

Usually, Nico would have very little reason to refuse to take part in this deception. Sure, it was a little shady, but what did Nico care about subverting Maki’s ridiculous family rules? And after being under the love ban for so long, extending her period of not being able to date anyone for real wasn’t much of an issue. It might be a little weird, but given how much this meant to Maki, normally she would sigh and complain and then go along with it.

But there was a bigger problem, hidden underneath layers of secrets and acting.

Nico was in love with Maki.

She had been since high school. She’d hoped that when she met her again, her feelings would have faded, that she could look at her without her heart beating faster, but it wasn’t the case. She couldn’t even claim that seeing Maki again had brought them back- they’d never left, even when her only contact with her was over the phone.

Pretending to date her, to be so close to what she wanted and knowing it was all a sham, having to constantly play with her own heart as she straddled the line between behaving as if she and Maki were in love and restraining herself from actually showing that she was in love- it would be a nightmare. Every second of it would put another splinter into her heart, every idle touch they shared to preserve the illusion would be agony, every affectionate lie that Maki told for the audience would be a dagger in her breast.

She couldn’t do it. It would be too painful. She opened her mouth to tell Maki that she wouldn’t do it.

_ Fine. Then I’ll sign the contract. _

Maki’s earlier words echoed in her mind and she paused. Was she really going to just step back and let Maki marry someone she’d hate? Could she bear to watch some insufferable old money playboy treat her like a live-in maid or worse?

Even with Maki making her feelings so painfully clear, could she bear to let go and let someone else have her?

“...Fine. I’ll do it. But you  _ owe me _ , Maki.”

A look of relief crossed Maki’s face. “Thanks, Nico.”

Nico made a disgruntled noise and feigned nonchalance. “Whatever. Nozomi isn’t going to let either of us live this down, you know.”

Maki groaned. “Don’t remind me. I can’t decide if she’s going to be more smug when we’re pretending or after we tell them it was all an act.”

Nico frowned. “Wait, you mean- we have to pretend in front of  _ them _ too?!”

Oh no. Oh no oh no this was  _ bad. _ Nozomi  _ knew _ . Nico had never told her, but Nozomi  _ knew _ that she was in love with Maki. What if mentioned that Nico had “finally" gotten with Maki after pining after her for so long?

“Of course we have to fool them. They can’t  _ all  _ keep a secret, and it’s easier for two people to hide something than nine people.” Maki looked away for a second. “...It shouldn’t be that hard anyway. For some reason a bunch of them think we were going to end up dating anyway.”

Oh. Well, that was a convenient smokescreen if Nico had ever seen one.

“Really? Jeez, those guys…” she shook her head and feigned annoyance. “I hope they weren’t behind any of that gossip back when we were idols. It was such a pain when Nico Ni started her solo career, having to crush rumours about μs and ‘ _ sordid affairs _ .’”

“R-right, that must have been... inconvenient for you.” Weirdly, Maki seemed to be slightly flustered all of a sudden.

Nico sighed. “Well, we’d better get our story straight if we’re going to be fooling μs too.”

Maki nodded. “Right. That’s why I invited you here early. We need to work out all the details. Who confessed, how it happened, what our first date was, how far we’ve gotten…”

As Maki listed off details, Nico heart ached and she cursed the Nishikino family for putting her in this situation. And Maki in particular, for deciding that Nico was the best option for a fake lover to show off to her relatives. Maki knew. Not that she was  _ wrong _ , but still, if she’d decided that some pretty boy from med school would look better on her arm, this would be so much easier for Nico.

Nico frowned. No, actually, it wouldn’t. Because then Maki wouldn’t have told her, and so she’d think they really were going out. Safest just to blame this stupid family tradition forcing Maki to pretend she was dating  _ anyone. _

“...and lastly, we need to practice kissing so we can do it naturally at the party.”

Nico snapped out of her thoughts. “WHAT?” she spluttered, pulling back from Maki in dismay.

Maki put her hands on her hips. “We’re supposed to have been dating for a year, Nico. We would have kissed a lot already, it has to be normal for us.”

Nico could have cried. She hadn’t thought this situation could have possibly gotten worse, and yet, here they were.

“What, are they going to demand to see us kiss in front of them or they won’t accept me? We don’t need to  _ practice _ or anything, do we ? Even if we do end up having to, we can just pretend we’re so in love that it’s always as exciting as the first time or something.”

Maki frowned. “That’s not exactly plausible.” She looked away for a moment, not meeting Nico’s eye. “...Is the idea of kissing me really that terrible?”

_ No, you idiot! I want it more than anything! That’s why this can’t happen! _

“What? What kind of question is that? What, do you  _ want _ to kiss me?” Nico challenged. When all else failed, she could always fall back on deflection. But this time, it wasn’t as effective as usual.

“‘What kind of question is that’? It’s an important kind of question, because this won’t work if you hate me so much that even the idea of kissing me is repulsive!” Maki shot back. She looked tense.

Nico swallowed a comeback and clenched her fists. Damnit, this wasn’t fair. This was moving too fast. This was too much to handle at once.

“It’s not  _ that _ terrible,” she said, looking away from her. “I just wouldn’t want to steal a pure maiden’s first kiss.”

“It’s not my first kiss,” Maki said flatly, and Nico’s gaze snapped to her face instantly.

“What? Are you serious?” she demanded.

Maki’s face remained impassive. “I’ve kissed people before, once or twice,” she said “What, have you not?”

Nico glared at her. “O-Of course I have! Oh, I couldn’t make a big  _ deal _ out of it, with the love ban and all, but a girl as popular as Nico Ni has definitely had cute admirers~!”

“Then there’s no problem, right?” Maki said. Nico winced internally. She’d walked right into Maki’s trap. Now she couldn’t admit that she’d never kissed anyone without sounding immature.

Well, she  _ had _ wanted Maki to be her first kiss. Just… maybe under better circumstances. 

“Well, we don’t have to jump to that right away,” Maki said. “I just wanted to make sure you were on board. We can start working things out after you get settled in.”

Nico sighed. “Okay, fine. You said you had a room for me, right?”

“Well… sort of…” Maki said evasively.

Nico glared at her. “...it’s the same room as you, isn’t it?”

“I made sure that there was enough room at the hotel that you could have had your own room if you didn't agree to the plan, but if we’re doing this it’ll look suspicious for us to have separate rooms.”

Nico’s eyes darted around the room for a second, and her glare intensified. “I only see one bed.”

Maki didn’t meet her eye. “We slept on mats like right next to each other back in high school…” she said.

“That’s not the same as sharing a western bed as adults, Maki!”

Great. Just great.

Nico was already regretting agreeing to this.


	2. Writing a Romance

Maki had gone out to make some kind of arrangements, or run some sort of errands or something. Frankly, Nico had been too overwhelmed to really pay attention. What had grabbed her attention was the depressing homework assignment she'd been given before Maki left.

“Start thinking about our relationship. How the confession happened, what our dates have been like, that sort of thing.”

Think about their fake relationship. In other words, pick her favourite fantasy of how she wished she and Maki had started dating, and convince Maki to agree to pretend it had happened. Or maybe she should pick her least favourite- maybe it would be less painful to know it wasn’t real if it wasn’t as close to what she wanted.

Letting out a deep sigh, Nico took another long look around the room she was apparently going to be staying in for the next few days.

It was immediately obvious that Maki had been the one who reserved it. It was large, sure; it wasn’t as if Maki was going to be staying in a run down motel. But if her parents had been the ones to book the place, Nico had no doubt that they’d be in some kind of ridiculous VIP suite, probably with multiple rooms. This one was only one room (and one bed, she reminded herself with displeasure) but it was spacious, with enough room for a table with some chairs surrounding it, and a couch opposite the bed. It had the odd sort of touch that Nico had come to expect from Maki- practical, but in a way that betrayed her being _used_ to lavish and thinking that merely “excellent” was being spartan.

There was even a little desk, which was already covered in Maki’s papers.  Even after graduating Maki was studying. Nico supposed she shouldn't be surprised, but she'd thought Maki might at least take a break for her party. Maybe it kept her mind off the situation she had been planning to rope Nico into.

Instead of starting on unpacking, Nico sat on the edge of the bed to brood. In a way, this was really her own fault. If she’d just confessed way back in high school, she wouldn’t be in this situation. They’d either be dating for real (ha!) or Maki wouldn’t ask her to do this. It would be too awkward to ask someone you turned down to pretend to date you, surely. That way, it wouldn’t hurt as much when she pretended to have a relationship with someone else, because Nico would have already known there was nothing there and moved on. But instead, she’d said nothing, and pined and hoped, and this was what she got for it. A cruel mockery of what she wanted, the lead actress in a play penned by her own fantasies.

Well, she couldn’t mope about it forever. It was time to just grit her teeth and suffer through it. It was only a few days, and then she could break it off once Maki safely inherited, and then...

Then what? Go back to wishing she was with Maki when she was on the other side of the country?

Standing up, Nico decided that unpacking was exactly what she needed to take her mind off things.

* * *

 

When Maki returned, Nico had finished unpacking and was idly watching a nature documentary on the hotel TV. The TV was a lot bigger than the one she had at home, but the high definition was not doing a lot to make swan migration more interesting.

Maki gave her a look. “...Is this how you come up with ideas?” she asked witheringly.

Nico rolled her eyes. “Don’t underestimate a talented idol, Maki-chan,” she said confidently. “I already have everything worked out. You, of course, confessed. You were taken with Nico Ni’s beauty, and said ‘oh Nico, I’ve loved you since I first set eyes on you, you’re so beautiful and perfect and all the mean things I said about you were lies and-’”

“No,” Maki cut her off, rolling her eyes. “How about a story anyone would actually believe, Nico?”

Nico glared. “You’re right. You ever not being stubborn long enough to admit how you feel _is_ pretty implausible.”

“ _Me_ not being stubborn is implausible?” Maki asked. “How about _you_? How long did it take before you even admitted you liked μs? Before you admitted you thought Honoka was a good idol?”

“Fine, I guess we’re both just too stubborn and neither of confessed and we never started going out!” Nico said, crossing her arms.

Maki sighed and slumped into a chair.

“This is going to be a long weekend if we can’t do anything without being at each other’s throats,” she grumbled, and for just a moment a look crossed her face that struck Nico deeply. It was the same look she’d seen on her own face in the mirror before she smiled it away, covered it with makeup and cheerfulness and pretended it wasn’t there.

Maki was tired. No doubt her studying on the side on top of her degree was taking more of a toll than she let on, and now she was being called in by her family and forced to put on this ridiculous ruse to maintain her inheritance.

So Nico bit back her retort, dropped her guard, and started to tell the actual story that she’d settled on. “Fine. Here’s how it went. You remember that concert I did last year where most of μs came?”

Most of μs hadn’t included Maki. She’d been busy studying. It had hurt, that Maki wasn’t there, even if she had a good reason with a test coming up. Sure, Nico had said she didn’t care, that Maki should focus on her exams, but she’d hoped right up until the end of the concert that Maki was somewhere out there in the crowd. She’d spend half the time on stage scanning the audience for the shock of red hair.

“You came out secretly, and met me after the show.” Nico had hung around with μs after the show, hoping it wasn’t obvious that she wished Maki was there. Nozomi could tell, she was sure, but hadn’t said anything. She’d settled for a pitying look or two. “I was so happy to see you again that I confessed without thinking about it. You were shocked and said that you’d come to confess, and you were mad I beat you to it.”

When Nico let herself fantasize to the extreme, dreaming up things she didn’t even dare hope for, that’s what she’d really thought up about the concert. That Maki would meet her backstage and kiss her and say she’d always loved her, and that she was Nico’s biggest fan, and ask her to go out with her. But instead, Maki had stayed home and read textbooks. Her biggest fan? Ha. Maki wasn’t even a fan at all.

“Our first date was at the Ginza Sky Lounge, because I was trying to impress you, but you ended up hating the rotation. We left before we even had the main course, and ended up eating at a nearby ramen place. I felt like a total idiot, especially since we were totally overdressed for ramen.”

She could almost see it. It was the kind of dumb thing that would happen to them. As the scene played out in her mind, the imaginary Maki reached out to grab her hand gently as Nico sulked about her ruined date, and Nico abruptly cut her imagination off. She couldn’t allow herself to fall too deep into her own lie. She’d just end up hurt.

“That's…” Maki struggled to find words for a second, a complicated look on her face. “...pretty believable, actually,” she settled on. She didn't look especially happy about it. Maybe she'd been hoping for something more like a storybook, but Nico had realized years ago their relationship would always be a little clumsy and argumentative. She still wished it was real, though. More than any perfect romance she could find in a book.

“Of course! Nico is a master of romance who speaks to the heart of all young maidens in love!” When she said it her eyes were closed, her head tilted up and away from Maki as she crossed her arms and grinned in satisfaction. It was a classic expression of smugness, and exactly what Maki was expecting. It was just a coincidence that it meant Nico didn't have to meet her eye and give Maki any chance to see the self-loathing she felt.

Maki rolled her eyes. “Sure, whatever. As long as you keep it up, ‘master of romance’, we should be okay.” She paused, hesitating, and then said quietly. “...Thanks, Nico.”

“S-Sure,” Nico said, startled by her sudden warmth. “No problem.”

Another lie for the pile.

* * *

 

The extra time they had before μs arrived flew by too quickly, taken up mostly by them just catching up and getting comfortable around each other again.

Maki determinately pushed more and more casual physical contact, arguing that Nico couldn’t be flinching away any time Maki reached for her hand or went for a hug. Nico kept her grumbling to a minimum, hoping that at least she could avoid the greater problem looming on the horizon.

The day before the others arrived, her time finally ran out.

“We need to kiss,” Maki said over breakfast.

Nico choked on her orange juice. “W-What? Now?” she asked, her eyes darting around the hotel restaurant nervously.

Maki pursed her lips. “We can wait until we get back to the room. But we’re meeting with the others tomorrow, remember? We have to be ready for them.” She took a deep breath. “And that means we have to be able to… k-kiss in front of them.”

Nico snorted. “You seem a little nervous all of a sudden.”

Maki made a disapproving noise and turned her nose up. “As if you’re any better,” she retorted.

“What? I’m fine! Eager, even!” Nico protested, leaning forward.

Maki’s eyes widened. “Eager?” she asked tentatively, and Nico swore internally. Too far.

“Eager to… see how bad you are at it!” she said, fumbling for an excuse. Luckily, it seemed to have worked, as Maki narrowed her eyes.

“We’ll see who’s a bad kisser, _Nico_ ,” she growled, spearing a forkful of egg threateningly.

After that, neither of them felt like taking their time with breakfast. Only minutes later, they were back in their hotel room, standing awkwardly near each other.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” Maki asked, fidgeting. “Hurry up and kiss me already.”

“What? Why am I kissing you?” Nico asked.

“You’re shorter,” Maki said, as if that explained everything.

“Screw you,” Nico snapped. “That’s more reason for you to start off, you need to lean down.”

“How about you get on tip toes?” Maki taunted, smirking.

Nico narrowed her eyes at her. “Oh, is this how we’re playing?” she asked, and in one swift movement, grabbed Maki roughly by the collar, yanked her down and slammed their lips together.

For a moment, Nico’s guard slipped up, and she let herself forget. She let herself forget that this was the one time in her life where kissing Maki _wasn’t_ equivalent to a confession. She allowed herself to pretend that it was real, allowed herself to pour her feelings into the kiss and let her hunger show.

And then Maki pulled away, gasping for breath, and Nico let go of her collar.

“Well, you weren’t… terrible,” Maki mumbled, blushing.

“Is that seriously-” Nico cut herself off, the high subsiding and reality rushing back to her. Maki wasn’t giving her the world’s worst reaction to a confession, she was just remarking on Nico’s technique. Her fake kiss didn’t mean anything else.

“-seriously all you have to say?” Nico said, scrambling to salvage her outburst. “Your face matches your hair, I’d say it was a little more than ‘not terrible’.”

“Don’t get all full of yourself,” Maki said. “You basically headbutted my nose, it wasn’t exactly flawless technique. Anyway, we need to practice casual kissing, not passionate kissing, keep your tongue to yourself.”

Nico frowned. Maki’s blush was already fading, and she was instantly back to business. Was she really that unphased? Was kissing Nico really that meaningless to her?

“...Sure,” Nico said, barely managing to keep her voice from betraying her, only just managing to keep her cheerful tone. “Just as well, I’m sure it would be embarrassing for you for Nozomi to find out how dispassionately you kiss.” Like you don’t even care. Like you’re measuring the minimum amount you can do without it seeming fake.

Nico went through the rest of the day with an ache in her heart. When they kissed again, more chastely, there was no moment of hope, no pretending that it was real. Oh sure, she made it look real. She smiled at the right moments, lingered just enough to appear fond- no one could fault her acting, she was sure of that. But she knew it was fake.

And yet, she still couldn’t help but love it, and hated herself for that.

* * *

 

“So Nico, tell us, why did you show up early?”

μs had arrived, and after they all greeted each other, Nozomi was the first to broach the subject on everyone’s mind. Nico knew it would be her. She was giving Nico a smirk that implied that she’d pre-emptively fallen for their ruse.

“Oh, we wanted a couple of days to ourselves,” Nico said, smirking right back at her.

“What for?” Honoka could always be counted not to take the hint. Nozomi’s face said that she had. Umi looked like she was trying very hard _not_ to.

“A lady never kisses and tells,” Nico said, winking. Maki made an upset noise and elbowed her.

“You could at least tell them properly, Nico,” she griped. This conversation hadn’t been pre-planned, so her annoyance was probably only half-feigned.

“Tell them what? That you finally fell for my undeniable charms and professed your undying love?” Nico asked, dramatically leaning back against Maki with the back of her hand to her forehead.

Maki blushed. “Why do you always have to put everything in the most annoying way?”

“You confessed, Maki?!” Honoka was wide eyed and filled with excitement, grabbing Maki’s hands. “What did she say? Nico, what did you say?! What happened?”

Her enthusiasm would normally have been endearing, but now, in this situation, where it was all fake, her genuine happiness rubbed Nico the wrong way. It wasn’t fair of her, she knew, but it hurt to see how accepting Honoka would be. How accepting μs would be. How happy they would be if this was real.

Nico fought to keep from gritting her teeth and put on a shining smile. “We’re dating now. Right, Maki?”

“Yes,” Maki reached out a hand shyly to grab Nico’s, and Nico fought every reflex in her body to yank her hand away. Instead, she squeezed her hand and turned to smile at her, provoking an “ooh” from Rin.

“So that’s our big news, I guess! Now that the great Nico Ni is retired and free of the curse of the love ban, we can tell people instead of keeping it in secret~!”

“You were keeping it secret?” Eli asked. “How long have you been dating?”

Nico pretended to be pondering it. “Nearly a year now,” she said.

Honoka let out a shrieking noise and began to immediately badger them for details, which her and Maki were only too happy to feed her.

* * *

 

Once Honoka was satisfied with stories and Maki was starting to show people to their rooms, Nozomi slid over to Nico and spoke quietly to her.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

“What, meeting Maki’s family? I mean, I’d have to do it eventually, right?” Nico tried to brush Nozomi off, but as she expected, it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Nozomi fixed her with a gaze that made Nico fidget uncomfortably, with the unnerving feeling that Nozomi was looking into her mind.

“...I meant this thing with Maki.”

Nico’s blood froze. No way Nozomi had seen through them. She was just making sure that Nico was serious about dating Maki, right?

“What, dating her? Yes I’m sure, I’ve had a crush on her since high school. Don’t act like you didn’t suspect it, you jerk.”

Nozomi fixed her with a long gaze and, after a moment, sighed. A smile returned to her face like it had never left. “As long as you’re happy with it, Nico. Congratulations.” And with that, she turned and followed after Maki and the others, leaving an uneasy Nico in her wake.

Had she figured them out or not? Well, either way, Nico could at least count on her not to spill the beans by accident or for no reason. They could deal with the fallout later. Nico winced at the realization of just how much fallout there was going to be when they pulled back the curtain. Honoka had been so excited…

Well, whatever. If Nico was willing to be tortured for this cause, those jerks could suffer through a little deception.

And if they wanted to get angry at Maki’s family for it, they could get in line.


	3. The Final Preparations

Luckily, most of μs had their own things to do before the ceremony. Since so few of them lived in Tokyo anymore, they all had things to do and people to see before Maki’s ceremony. Hence, her and Maki were mostly left alone, aside from assorted congratulations and assurances that they’d always figured the two of them would end up together.

The latter was what caused the problem.

“Ugh, if I hear one more smug remark about how they saw this coming…” Maki grumbled, as they returned to their room.

“What? Why are you all annoyed? That just makes it easier for us,” Nico said, shrugging and trying to look unconcerned. Truthfully, it bothered her as well, but she suspected it was for a very different reason than whatever problem Maki had with it. She very much doubted that every time Maki heard one of their friends talk about how obvious it was that they’d end up together it made _her_ want to shake them and yell ‘You’re wrong! She doesn’t love me! Stop lying to me!’

“It’s irritating that they’re so willing to accept that we’re going out and that they’ve apparently always thought it would happen,” Maki said, frowning.

“Excuse me?” Nico narrowed her eyes at Maki and kicked the door of the room shut behind her, placing her hands on her hips. “What the hell does _that_ mean? Am I not good enough for you now?”

Maki gave her an exasperated look. “Why does everything have to be about your ego?” she snapped, and Nico clenched her fists.

“My ego?! You’re not happy because people aren’t constantly going ‘oh I can’t believe you settled for Nico, Maki!’ and _my_ ego is the problem?!” she shouted.

Maki glared at her. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“ _I’m_ being ridiculous?! I’m not the one who started this insane ruse _a year in advance_ without even telling my fake partner about it until three days before the big reveal! I’m not the one who’s complaining that this stupid plan is working after I was the one who proposed it in the first place!”

Nico knew she was overreacting. Maki was being a jerk, but it didn’t warrant this level of anger. But she was tired and frustrated, and hated this situation. Hated everyone around her talking about how obvious it was that she and Maki would go out as the knowledge of how impossible it was burned in her soul. And now Maki was here rubbing it in her face how fake it was, how much she didn’t and never could love her, and Nico couldn’t take it anymore.

“Maybe I should go and tell everyone exactly what’s actually going on, so that they can know that you’re not _lowering yourself_ to dating some stupid washed up ex-idol girl who never even went to college!”

“What? Nico, I don’t think you’re-” Maki had paled slightly and seemed upset, but Nico barely even noticed.

“But no, I’m sure that you’re _willing to suffer that humiliation_ all _for the sake of the patients_ , right?” she snapped. When Maki just stared at her, stunned, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.

She didn’t know where she was going, she just knew that she didn’t want to be there.

* * *

 

She ended up at the hotel’s bar, staring moodily into a glass of wine. She was torn. On the one hand, she wanted to drink, to get actually _drunk_ for the first time now that it wouldn’t result in a career ending scandal. But even with how badly she’d disrupted the uneasy peace in her and Maki’s “relationship”, she was still afraid of making it worse.

If she did give in and get drunk... What if she said too much? What if she told Maki why she was really mad? What if she told Maki how she really felt? However hard it was getting to maintain the ruse, how much more impossible would it be if Maki _knew_? If she was too awkward, pulling away out of unease, it would show. Maki wasn’t a good enough actress to pretend to be in love with Nico when she was recoiling from her.

And then the ruse would be blown. And Maki would either lose her inheritance, or be forced to marry someone she’d never even met. And it would be Nico’s fault.

So Nico didn’t get drunk. Instead, she settled for sullenly drinking one glass of wine over the course of an hour, watching the various rich looking guests mill around and chat as she sulked in a corner booth alone. This bar was too nice. She wanted to be in some dive where old men silently put their demons to sleep for a few hours and no one talked, not some sleek hang out area that practically sparkled from all the well polished glasses and well bred smiles.

Eventually, it was too much to bear. Her wine was long since gone, so she left a tip on the table and slunk back to her room. Hopefully, Maki would be asleep by now.

* * *

 

By the time she returned, it was nearly midnight. Opening the door quietly, she found that, unfortunately, Maki was _not_ already asleep, and spun to face her as soon as the door opened.

“Nico! Where have you been?” Maki demanded.

Nico rolled her eyes. “You’re not _actually_ my girlfriend, Maki, so it’s none of your business.”

Maki recoiled as if struck, and Nico took the opportunity to head into the bathroom for a shower. She had to remind herself of that. Maki wasn’t really her girlfriend. They only needed to pretend in front of other people, not with each other.

The bathroom was oddly spacious, and boasted a fancy looking bathtub that Nico was tempted to try out at some point. For now though, the inviting cubicle of the shower beckoned, and Nico slipped out of her clothing and walked across the black tile to try and calm down.

As the hot water cascaded over her and her emotions settled, Nico started to feel guilty. It wasn’t Maki’s fault that Nico had all these inconvenient feelings. Maki didn’t need reminders that what they had wasn’t real. Maybe she was just actually concerned. Nico had been acting a little weird, after all.

By the time she finished drying off, she’d already decided to apologize, and found Maki still awake when she emerged.

“...Look, I’m sorry,” she said, when Maki glanced over at her again. “This is… stressful for me.” Well, it wasn’t _un_ true. She just wasn’t specifying why, was all.

“So don’t get all worried that I’m angry at you or something.”

Maki looked at her for a moment and then sighed in resignation. “Whatever, if you say so,” she said, her skepticism palpable. “And I don’t think you’re _dumb_ , I don’t know where you got that from.”

“Sure, I know.” Nico’s skepticism didn’t make its way to her voice, and she was sure it didn’t show on her face. That didn’t mean it wasn’t just as present as Maki’s. But let Maki think Nico believed her comforting lies. Nico barely even graduated high school, she was dumb enough to buy a lie like that, right?

“...Good. I was worried you thought…” Maki paused, then shook her head. “Nevermind.”

Satisfied that the conversation was over, Nico walked over the to the side of the bed and reached for her pillow. For the last few days, Nico had been sleeping on the floor. Maki hadn’t been happy, but Nico argued that if somehow someone came in and saw, she could claim she’d fallen out of bed in the night. So far, it had successfully saved her from actually sharing a bed with Maki.

But apparently, tonight was when her luck ran out.

As she grabbed the pillow, Maki’s hand shot out and took hold of her wrist.

“...Maki?”

Maki was silent for a moment, and then said quietly. “...Can’t you just sleep in the bed?” Nico stared at her in confusion, and Maki didn’t meet her eye. “Please?” she said, barely above a whisper. “For tonight, at least.”

“What, you think that your parents are going to-”

“It’s not because of that.” Maki cut her off, meeting her eyes again for a moment. There was something fierce in them that made Nico swallow her retort and wait for Maki to explain. But Maki saw something in her own eyes, and faltered, her gaze slipping away again.

“...Sorry. I’m asking too much.” She let go of Nico’s wrist and turned over, facing away from her. “Nevermind. Good night, Nico.”

Nico stood with her hand still on the pillow and stared at Maki. None of this made sense. If Maki had been pestering her to sleep in the same bed because she didn’t want to cede a single detail of their fake romance, Nico could have understood that, given what a perfectionist Maki could be. If she’d demanded that Nico do it because she was worried her family would get a spare key and sneak in, Nico could have even understood _that_ , as ridiculous as the notion was. But it was neither of those things.

For a tiny moment, Nico let herself believe it was the obvious. Maki just wanted her close. Maki wanted to curl up with her and sleep together.

She chased the thought out of her mind. Getting her hopes up wouldn’t do any good.

It still left her with the question of _why_. But if she couldn’t answer that, at least she could answer an easier one: would she do it?

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Nico dramatically pulled up the cover and collapsed onto the bed. “Oh fine, if you _insist_ ,” she said haughtily, pulling the blanket back over herself. “I suppose one more favour isn’t a big deal given how generous Nico is already being.”

Nico heard a muffled grumble from the other side of the bed and rolled her eyes. “Your gratitude is severely lacking,” she complained, and Maki managed a “thank you” without turning around.

Maybe that was for the best. Nico suddenly realized she might not be able to handle Maki looking her in the face right now. Even looking at her back made Nico’s heart ache as Maki’s side rose and fell slightly with each breath, her hair splaying out on the pillow and the bed beneath. Flustered, Nico quickly turned away and stared hard at the wall, trying to forget that Maki was only inches away from her.

Taking her eyes off Maki offered some relief, but Nico still felt tense, self-conscious of her every wiggle and hypersensitive to every slight movement Maki made. She found herself on the edge of the bed, trying to gain even the slightest bit of distance to slow her racing heart. If she wasn’t careful, she really _would_ fall out of bed like she’d pretended she had before.

At first, she thought she’d never manage to get to sleep. Every time Maki murmured or shifted, Nico’s senses kicked into overdrive, denying her any peace. After a while, though, tension proved no match for simple exhaustion, and Nico felt her eyelids getting heavier as sleep overtook her.

“Nico.”

Maki’s voice sounded weird. Heavy, low, almost… sultry?

“Nico, look at me.”

Nico turned over and gasped. Maki’s conservative pyjamas had vanished, leaving her in nothing but alluring silk panties, black as night with little red bows. Her hair cascaded over her chest, the only thing obscuring it from Nico’s sight.

“Nico, I love you,” Maki purred, reaching out a hand to Nico’s face, stroking her cheek with a thumb. “Forget this facade. Make love to me, Nico, so that you can look my father in the face and tell him that I’m yours, utterly and completely.”

“Mentioning your dad is a real turn off,” Nico said, desperately trying to deflect Maki, but it was fruitless. Maki drew closer and pressed herself against Nico, her hands moving to pull of Nico’s clothes, and Nico found herself letting her. All of her common sense was overridden by desire as Maki playfully flipped her hair over her shoulder, exposing her breasts to the air and Nico’s hungry gaze.

“See something you like?” Maki said, smiling. “Go on, you can touch me. I won’t break.”

Nico swallowed hard and hesitantly reached a hand forwards. Maki grabbed it and pulled it to her chest, and Nico’s fingers closed around her impossibly soft-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Nico jolted awake to the sound of an alarm clock.

It had been a dream.

The reality came crashing down on her as she realized how _obvious_ it was. Maki hadn’t been acting anything like herself. She cursed her subconsciousness for tormenting her. Of all the fantasies to play out in during the night, it just had to be the one that would make it hardest to look Maki in the face.

Okay, maybe not _the_ worse one for that. She’d certainly had dreams where she’d gotten… farther with Maki. And now she was thinking about _those_ dreams, and it was even more impossible to look at Maki without turning red.

She bolted out of a bed and made a beeline to the bathroom. Let Maki think she really needed to pee or something. What she actually needed was a cold shower and a little distance.

As she pulled the door shut behind her, she let out the breath she’d been holding since she left the bed in a sigh. She’d been doing so well. It had been difficult, sure, but she hadn’t fantasized since the first day. She thought she’d managed to keep herself in check, but here she was having erotic dreams about Maki when she was sleeping only inches away.

It wasn’t new, of course. Maki hadn’t been her sexual awakening, exactly, but she’d been the object of Nico’s affection in high school, with all the hormonal moods that entailed. It was only natural that Maki would take the starring role in such epics as “what if me and Maki had sex in my bed” and “what if me and Maki had sex in _her_ bed”. Well, and some more exotic ones from time to time, but opening up _that_ vault of recollection would be a very poor idea right now.

Only two days left. She just had to focus on that and keep it together a little longer. Once the party was over, she could go back to being on the other side of the country from Maki, studying cooking. Sure, she’d never _really_ found a way to get over Maki, and still thought about her, but she was _mostly_ distracted by classes. And besides, back there she couldn’t screw up and make a move unless she got really drunk and started sending incriminating texts.

The cold shower was just what she needed. It wasn’t exactly a nice way to wake up in the morning, but she’d take some unpleasant chills over the insistent burn of her libido begging her to stop hiding and make a move.

Stepping out of the shower, she realized she’d forgotten to bring her clothes with her. Not that it was surprising, given her hurry, but there wasn’t much point in putting her pyjamas back on when they were getting ready anyway. Wrapping a towel around herself, she pushed the door open as she pulled the towel tight. She heard Maki gasp and looked up-

To find Maki, topless, frozen with a bra in her hands looking at her in surprise.

Nico’s eyes widened in shock. If that had been her _only_ reaction, it wouldn’t have been as bad. Unfortunately, her surprise had a secondary effect of loosening her grip.

Letting her towel, still only just wrapped around her and far from secured, slip out of her hands and unwrap itself, landing gently at her feet with a sad little “fwop”.

There was a pause where both of them stared at the other. Then Maki managed to tear her eyes away and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I, um,” she said. “I thought you’d take longer. So I thought I’d just change out here.”

“R-Right,” Nico said, swallowing and hastily grabbing her towel and wrapping it around her body again. “Makes sense. I’ll just uh, grab my clothes, then. Give me a yell when you’re ready.”

“O-Okay,” Maki said.

Nico held the towel close and stared determinedly ahead as she moved stiffly over to her clothes. Luckily, Maki had insisted on them picking outfits days in advance, so she didn’t have to dig around in her suitcase. Walk over to clothes, pick up clothes, walk back into bathroom, close door.

Try not to scream loudly enough that Maki could hear.

She honestly couldn’t decide which was worse. Obviously, being seen naked by the girl she was in love with was _mortifying_ and made Nico want to curl up in a ball and die. Especially given that she had nothing to show off- she was almost completely lacking in curves, had tiny breasts, and would be bony if it wasn’t for her far from feminine muscles. It wasn’t exactly a great view she treated Maki to.

But that, at least, she could try to bear. After all, Maki didn’t love her _anyway_ , so why did it matter if she found out how unattractive she was under her makeup and carefully picked clothes?

What was far less easy to deal with was the the image now burned into her mind of _Maki_ without clothes above the waist.

Despite the fact that Maki had technically revealed less of her body, she’d definitely managed to show off more than Nico. It was completely unfair that her junior was so much more developed than her. Of course, it wasn’t as if she was _unaware_ of that, exactly. It was pretty obvious even with their clothes on that Maki had a swell there. But being vaguely aware of it and actually seeing just how good she looked topless were two very different things. Her breasts were perfectly-

Nico slapped herself on both cheeks and shook her head. Stop thinking about it. Leave it. Forget all of it. Focus on getting ready. Makeup. Clothes. Hair. Maki’s bre- NO.

This was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to hikarihawkeye for doing some proofreading


	4. Meeting the Family

Somehow, the two of them managed to get dressed and ready without any further mishaps or Nico’s self-control faltering. The latter was mostly achieved by Nico not looking at Maki at all. It wasn’t completely avoidable, though- when Maki needed help zipping up the back of her dress, Nico almost just gave up. But somehow, they left the room with the plan still intact to meet with the others and head over to grand Nishikino estate for the festivities.

Dealing with μs was a lot harder than it had been before. Their jokes had been painful enough the previous day, but hearing Nozomi’s sly insinuation about what they’d been up to last night when her libido was so frustrated was borderline unbearable. Rin eagerly pressing for clarification wasn’t any better. It was luckily that they arrived at the party as fast as they did, or Nico would have probably punched them both in the face.

The party itself was a predictably overdone and slightly stuffy affair. Their mansion had a ballroom, _of course_ , and that was where the guests were funneled. There were a mass of tables at the edges of the rooms with elaborate places, complete with ornate name cards. As the guest of honor, Maki and her plus one had their own table near the front. Banners and tastefully dull decorations were hung up around the hall.

The Nishikino family had made a weekend of their official ceremony, and their idea of a “fun weekend” involved a lot dull speeches than Nico’s own personal standards. She had been fairly sure that Maki would be of a similar opinion, but either she was wrong or Maki was just very practiced at pretending to be interested in overrated old men droning on about their success. Upon careful examination, Nico decided it was the latter.

It was a very careful examination. Given that she didn’t have the slightest interest in “Uncle Satoshi” or his apparently very important pharmaceutical contracts, and she was pretty sure it would be frowned upon for her to pull out her phone and overtly ignore him, she found staring at Maki to be the safest and most appealing use of her time. If anyone caught her, well, it just served to enhance the illusion, right? No one could be surprised at a doting girlfriend being captivated by her beloved all dressed up.

And Maki was certainly all dressed up. Insistent on matching the level of formality her parents were bringing, she’d coaxed her hair into a beautiful updo that was interlaced with tasteful silver jewelry that glinted eye-catchingly in the light when she shifted. It also had the side effect of revealing her neck, something that Nico was pointedly trying not to focus too much. She already had enough to fantasize about without thinking about what she’d like to do with her lips and that tender expanse of skin.

She preferred to let her attention drift to the stunning dress Maki was wearing. It was a deep blue that contrasted pleasantly with her hair, with a slit up one of the legs that was another area Nico avoided looking at, and a plunging neckline with a beautiful ruby necklace that Nico also didn’t-

She was quickly realizing that there was a lot of Maki she couldn’t look at right now.

But there was still enough to occupy her attention through the interminable droning of old rich men until they broke for lunch. They were still in a stuffy banquet hall being watched by judgemental ancients, so Nico couldn’t exactly pull the ties out of her hair and loosen her skirt, but she could at least talk to Maki without getting dirty looks.

“Is your uncle always that long winded?” Nico murmured to Maki quietly, as Maki speared an expensive looking vegetable with a fork that probably cost more than all the silverware in the Yazawa household combined.

“Yes,” Maki whispered back. “But if he talks to you, make sure to mention you liked his speech, and that you thought his decision was very brave. He won’t press for details as long as you’re complimenting him.”

Maki, apparently, had assumed that Nico wouldn’t listen. She would be offended if Maki wasn’t completely right.

“How can you stand this stuff?” she grumbled, and Maki rolled her eyes.

“You get used to it.”

She was twirling her hair around a finger. It was an old habit of hers, one that Nico hadn’t seen in ages.

“Hey.” Nico put a hand over Maki’s, and Maki’s eyes flicked to their hands for a moment before meeting Nico’s again.

“Are you okay?” Nico asked softly.

Maki let out a sigh. “I’m just nervous,” she said. “I keep worrying that someone’s going to suddenly point at me and shout ‘liar!’ or something.”

Nico leaned forwards and kissed her. Maki returned the kiss softly, flushing a little bit.

“That should help dull suspicion, right?” Nico said, grinning slightly.

Maki returned the smile, and Nico wrestled with how she felt about that. She was happy that she’d helped, of course, but… there was a certain torture to being so close to what you wanted without getting it. She kissed Maki, in front of Maki’s family, in front of all their friends, and Maki smiled at her and was glad she had. It was something out of one her fantasies. But it was _wrong_. It wasn’t real. Maki wasn’t smiling because she wanted to be kissed, least of all by Nico. She was smiling because Nico was doing a good job of playing her role.

Fighting to stop her morose thoughts showing on her face, Nico turned to her food. It was quite expertly cooked, which wasn’t much of a surprise. It was also unadventurous, which wasn’t a surprise either. Usually food cooked with this much skill would be trying an interesting blend of spices, but clearly the Nishikinos had a strict “no innovation” policy when it came to the set menu. It was painfully classical, to the point that it was probably near indistinguishable from an identical dish probably served in these halls a hundred years ago. Exactly the kind of soulless, rote cooking that Nico was glad she could afford to never do.

“So what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” Nico asked casually, not bothering to keep her voice too quiet this time.

“More speeches after lunch, then drinks afterwards. That’s when you’ll be meeting the family one on one,” Maki said.

Nico made a face, and Maki glared at her.

“ _Please_ try to make a good impression,” she said. “They don’t _technically_ have to like you but if they don’t they might be spiteful enough not to approve you as a worthy heir.”

“The lovely Nico Ni _always_ makes a good impression, Maki!” Nico said cheerfully, smiling widely at Maki and reveling in her irritated look. “She’s everyone’s idol, the centerpiece in everyone’s heart!”

“I’ll settle for you not offending anyone,” Maki said coldly, and Nico batted her eyelashes at her.

“Oh, don’t be jealous Maki,” she cooed. “No matter how many people fall for me, you’re the only Nishikino in my heart.”

Maki flushed red. “That wasn’t what I meant,” she grumbled.

“I know, I know,” Nico said, entwining her fingers with Maki. As much as she hated this whole situation, she’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit that she was going to miss this casual physical contact. Kisses and overt romantic gestures came with the bitter taste of deception and fakeness, but it wasn’t as if you couldn’t hold hands with a friend, right? Just simply being _close_ with Maki, like the kind of friends they never really were in high school, warmed Nico’s heart.

But doubtless it would also end when their fake relationship did. She might as well enjoy it while it lasted. And it gave her something to do during the speeches.

* * *

“Oh? What exactly did you find brave?”

Nico resisted the urge to turn and glare at Maki. “ _He won’t press for details” my ass._

Right after the speeches had ended, Satoshi Nishikino had been the first in line to meet “his darling niece’s pretty little girlfriend”. Figuring that Maki would know how to handle him better than her, Nico had taken her advice on what to say.

A decision she was now regretting.

“What _wasn’t_ brave?” she said with a laugh, trying to play it off. “But in all seriousness, as someone who found some success myself, I know how many risks you take getting to the top.”

Satoshi gave Nico a patronizing smile. She felt herself bristle before he even opened his mouth. “Oh, I know you meant that as a compliment, but I’m not sure that an idol would really understand. Of course we’re all very impressed at your ability to captivate the nation,” he said, in a way that suggested it was impressive in the way a child’s crayon drawing was very good for their age “But, well... it’s mostly a lot of looking pretty at the end of the day, isn’t it?”

A hush didn’t exactly fall over the hall, but Nico heard a few conversations die down and felt a collection of eyes on her.

She smiled sweetly. “If that’s your opinion of the entertainment industry, I’m afraid I can’t recommend you ever venture into it professionally,” she said, adopting the sugary sweet tone she’d used for years as her “idol voice”. “That kind of mindset is one I’ve seen a lot with managers, and even some idols. And then they’re just _so_ confused when they fail within weeks! It’s almost as if they just _assumed_ something didn’t take any hard work or talent and then were crushed by the people who knew better.”

There were a few intakes of breath. Nico heard Maki tense up behind her.

Then Satoshi laughed.

“Well said, well said!” he chortled, slapping Nico on the shoulder jovily.

“Maki, my dear, you found yourself quite the catch!” he said, giving Maki an outrageous wink and receiving a polite smile in return.“Always believed in speaking up when someone’s not got the right of it. My apologies, my dear, I quite underestimated you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Nico said, all smiles. “It’s not an insult to say that I make it look easy, after all.”

“Quite so! Quite so!” Satoshi said, laughing uproariously again.

After that almost disaster, the evening went smoothly. Maki’s parents, who had met her already as Maki’s friend, remained largely on the sidelines, leaving Maki to introduce Nico to a seemingly never ending line of relatives, family friends, and business associates. Nico smiled and nodded and shook hands and made polite conversation, and drank enough wine to be seen as friendly but little enough keep her wits about her.

By the time the crowd finally thinned out and they returned to their hotel room, Nico was exhausted.

“Ughhhh,” she whined, collapsing onto the bed and listlessly kicking off her shoes into a corner. “I don’t ever want to hear another ‘funny story’ about a board meeting ever again.”

“Oh come on, Aunt Atsuko’s story really was funny at least,” Maki said, starting to undo her hair. Nico glanced up at her and watched without responding for a moment. Clearly Maki wasn’t as taxed by the evening as her, but she still looked tired. Still, she could probably manage by herself and let Nico rest for a moment…

“Nico, can you unzip my dress for me?” Maki asked, heartlessly crushing Nico’s dreams as she turned to expose her back, holding her half-undone hair up out of the way. Nico found herself confronted with the view of Maki’s nape that she’d been dodging all evening.

“Fine, fine…” Letting out a sigh, Nico forced herself back onto her feet and took hold of the zipper, squeezing her eyes shut and pulling it down. Unfortunately, closing her eyes let her mind fill in the blanks, and her mind was all too happy to jump at the chance.

“Thanks Nico,” Maki said, oblivious to Nico’s struggles. “I’ll take the bathroom this time. Just um… go ahead and yell when you’re ready and I’ll come out then.”

Nico could have strangled her. She’d finally managed to… well, not actually _forget_ the morning’s disaster, but at least get it off her mind for a second. And now Maki brought it back up.

“R-Right,” Nico managed, and Maki slipped into the bathroom with her dress held up against her body.

Nico’s outfit was cute, but even in formalwear, her figure wasn’t suited to the kind of dress that needed two people to operate. She had no issue getting undressed alone. Once she was finished, she paused, hair untied and cascading over her shoulders, with not a stitch of clothing on her. She was seized by the insane urge to spread herself out on the bed and call out to Maki that she was ready. It was terrible idea, she knew. Maki wasn’t attracted to her, and it would completely destroy their act with only a day left to go. And yet, she stood there, naked, making no move to put on clothes. Considering it.

“Nico, I’m ready whenever you are,” she heard Maki call from the bathroom, and hesitated for a moment.

But it was only for a moment.

“Just a minute!” she replied, starting to pull on her pyjamas.

* * *

She found herself in the bed with Maki again. Maki hadn’t even asked this time, but when she came out of the bathroom to find Nico already under the blanket, idly playing with her phone, she’d silently slid into the bed next to her.

“So is this your family’s idea of celebrating your accomplishments?” Nico asked, setting her phone down on the nightstand and turning to face Maki. A risky move, but as long as they were just talking, she should be okay. “None of the speeches were even about you.”

“How would you know? You barely paid attention to them,” Maki sniped, turning to meet Nico’s stare. Nico felt her heart beat faster. The two of them, lying in the same bed under the same blanket looking into each other’s eyes… it wasn’t quite _romantic_ the way a kiss was, but there was an intimacy to it that Nico dearly hoped wasn’t faked on Maki’s end.

“I still can’t believe you stood up to Uncle Satoshi like that,” Maki continued. “I was ready to kill you if you’d started the event off by making an enemy.”

“Okay, first, _I’m_ not the one who started that conversation with ‘your career takes no skill’, and second _you_ said that if I just nodded and said he was brave everything would be fine!”

“He’s never asked for details before!” Maki protested, holding up her hands. “He’s usually content to just talk to himself about how great he is.” She paused for a moment. “No wonder the two of you got along so well.”

“Excuse me?!” Nico said, affronted.

“You’re right, though, other than everyone wanting to meet you I wasn’t really the focus of today,” Maki continued, her cheeks faintly pink. Maybe she was embarrassed that Nico had brought it up. “Whenever there’s a big event with the family the first day always ends up being a general family reunion. Tomorrow will be actually about the heiress ceremony and my graduation.”

“Huh. Must be nice to have that once in a while, even if you have to remember a bunch of names of cousins.” Honestly, Nico was a little jealous.

“Do you not ever see your extended family?” Maki asked, curiously. The way her hair fell across her face when she shifted her head quizzically made Nico’s heart skip a beat, and she had to clear her throat before she answered.

“I don’t think I _have_ any,” Nico said. “Mom’s never mentioned anyone else, anyway. Dad never did back when he was alive either.”

“...That must be lonely,” Maki said quietly.

Nico laughed. “I don’t think you have to worry about me being _lonely_ when I lived in a tiny house with four other people.”

“I guess that’s true,” Maki said.

“And my family has always been a big part of my life. Cocoa, Cocoro, and Cotarou were my first fans, after all!”

Maki smiled, and the two of them settled into a comfortable silence for a moment.

“Why do you never wear your hair down anyway, Nico?” Maki asked suddenly.

“I dunno, I just liked the twin tails look a lot as an idol, and these days I’m more into a bun-” Nico started, but fell silent as Maki reached out a hand out to take of lock of Nico’s hair, running her thumb across it gently.

“It looks so pretty like this…” she murmured, and Nico’s heart sped up. She swallowed nervously and at the noise Maki’s eyes slid from Nico’s hair to her eyes, meeting her gaze silently.There was something deep inside Maki’s eyes that Nico couldn’t quite discern, and she found herself unable to do anything except stare into them.

“M-Maki?” When she was finally able to speak, Nico’s hesitant voice seemed to break whatever trance Maki was under. Maki jerked her hand back as if burned, flushing red and looking away.

“S-Sorry, I didn’t-” she started, then cut herself off and turned over to face the other direction. “Good night, Nico,” she said, her voice still slightly flustered.

“G-Good night,” Nico replied, heart still racing. She wasn’t sure how to feel. What was that spark that had been there for just a moment? Why had something that had been a safe, platonic chat suddenly taken a turn into… something else?

Nico turned on her side and stared at the same wall that had confronted her last night as she wondered about Maki’s insistence on sharing a bed. Just like yesterday, it held no answers for her.

 

 


	5. Dawn of The Final Day

“Nico…”

There was a reason she shouldn't be doing this. She was sure of it.

“Nico… why aren't you looking at me? Do you… not like me?”

“No- it's just- I-" She was _sure_ there was a reason. Why couldn't she remember?

“Nico…” Maki’s voice was husky and desperate. “Please…”

There couldn't be a reason good enough. This was exactly what she wanted, wasn't it? She could deal with whatever the problem was later. She gave up and took her hands away from her eyes and was rewarded with a pleased noise from Maki.

As if the sight before her wasn't reward enough.

Maki was lying back on the bed under her, arms behind her head and a smile on her face halfway between relieved and seductive. She was wearing nothing above the waist, affording Nico an obstructed view of her chest that distracted her from noticing much else. Nico’s eyes roamed across it hungrily, and Maki wiggled alluringly.

“What, are you just going to stare?” she teased. “Touch me, idiot.”

Nico glared at her, flushing.

“I-I’m getting to it!” she protested. “Just… give me a second.”

Maki rolled her eyes. “At least take off your shirt so I have something to look at while I'm waiting, then.”

Nico swallowed nervously. “I don't- there's not much to look at,” she said, her voice quiet.

Maki shook her head and reached her hands up to cup Nico’s face. “Don't say that, Nico. Please... let me see you.”

Nico’s hands shook as she grasped her pyjama shirt and slowly pulled it up over her head, fighting the urge to pull it back down and cover herself. As Maki let go of her face to let her lift her shirt, Nico squeezed her eyes shut and yanked it off the rest of the way, tossing it aside and then clenching her hands into fists at her sides to stop herself from covering her chest.

“Nico.”

Nico knew she was shaking, but she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t bear to look at Maki’s face. Not now. Not when she was seeing for herself how lacking Nico was.

“Nico, open your eyes,” Maki’s voice was firm, and Nico felt Maki’s hand on her cheek again. She reluctantly opened her eyes.

Rather than disappointment or revulsion, Nico saw only love in Maki’s eyes.

“You’re beautiful, Nico,” Maki murmured, and brought her hand up t-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

_No!_

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

It was too cruel. Nico silenced the alarm and draped an arm over her face to hide her eyes, fighting against the tears welling up in them.

It wasn’t fair.

It was one thing when she was having meaningless erotic dreams where Maki acted like a stereotypical lead in some low rent porno. Sure, they played hell with her libido, but a cold shower could sort that out well enough. But dreaming about _intimacy?_ Dreaming about Maki acting like _herself_ , about Maki _thinking she was beautiful?_ That was too much. That was her subconscious just _trying_ to hurt her.

And it worked.

For the second morning in a row, Nico started her day by rushing into the bathroom without even grabbing her clothes.

Deep breaths. Focus on something happy. Hold back the tears.

She smiled at herself in the mirror and winced at how unconvincing it was as a tear slipped down her cheek. She rubbed at her eye in annoyance. This was stupid. It was just a dream. Hell, even in the dream she’d vaguely known that she shouldn’t get sucked in. She’d just been too dumb to heed her own warning. There was no reason to cry over some dumb fantasy of things she couldn’t have. She hadn’t gotten to be a successful idol by curling up in the corner and crying over her body, she’d worked with what she'd been given.

Determination refreshed, Nico quickly splashed her face with water and dried off before venturing back into the room to fetch her clothes.

* * *

Maki was more nervous than she had been yesterday. While normally Nico’s more in-depth makeup routine meant Maki was the one waiting for her, today Nico sat on the couch watching Maki pace back and forth nervously, drumming her fingers on the arm rest impatiently.

“Maki,” she said.

Maki ignored her and rechecked her necklace in the mirror for the twelfth time. She was wearing a tight purple dress today, and it suited her even better than the blue one. Her necklace was a more restrained simple silver affair this time, complimented by some nice crescent moon earrings. Nico had picked a matching outfit with accents of purple and white. Standing next to each other, they almost looked like a real high-class couple.

At least to the untrained eye. Doubtless the Nishikino family could spy Nico’s lack of nobility at a glance from twenty paces.

“ _Maki_ ,” Nico said, louder. Still no response, as Maki mumbled the first lines of her speech to herself for the fifteenth time. She could recite it backwards with her eyes closed, but she seemed convinced she was going to forget all of it somehow.

“Maki!” Nico shouted, and finally Maki jumped and turned to look at her. “Let’s go, we’re going to be late.”

Maki frowned at her, but just nodded and headed towards the door stiffly.

“Relax, Maki,” Nico said, following after her. “It’ll be fine.”

Maki made a noise that suggested she wasn’t convinced, but she allowed Nico to take her hand and lead her towards the house.

* * *

She still hadn’t calmed down by the time they arrived, gripping Nico’s hand tightly. Mercifully, μs had already gone ahead of them, so Nico didn’t have to deal with any distractions while she gently rubbed the back of Maki’s hand with her thumb.

“Nico, what if I forget my speech?” Maki asked, and Nico fought the urge to strangle her.

“Maki, it’ll be fine,” she said, for probably the hundredth time. “You’re being ridiculous. You’re even more nervous than you were for our first big performance.”

Maki smiled weakly. “I don’t believe you. I was pretty bad back then.”

Nico grinned. “Okay, maybe not, but you’re pretty bad now, too.”

Maki took a deep breath and steeled herself.

Nico squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right by you the whole time.”

For some reason, that seemed to make Maki _more_ nervous.

* * *

True to her word, Nico stood by Maki the entire time she gave her speech. Unfortunately, this was quite a long time, and Nico had heard the speech before when Maki was practicing. It was a good speech, but she couldn’t say it was especially interesting the twentieth time. She still didn’t find it too hard to look enraptured when she was looking at Maki.

Luckily, Maki managed to fight down her nerves and gave her speech confidently, and the audience was receptive. Everything was going according to plan.

Until Maki started improvising.

“...but before I leave, I’d like to take a moment to thank the other woman up on the stage- she’s to my left, you might need to look down a little.”

A ripple of laughter greeted this new unrehearsed joke as Nico put on a frown that was exaggerated enough to be clearly in jest.

“My father always told me to make time for what’s important in life. So obviously, I ignored his advice and told Nico to leave me alone so I could study.”

More laughter. Nico forced herself to giggle instead of scowling. Maki actually _had_ done that, was the problem. Now she was trying to play it off like some cute little joke? Like she really did care but made a mistake? If those were her real feelings, she’d done a poor job of showing them.

“But despite that, and despite her own _very_ busy schedule, Nico was always there for me. Calling on my birthday. Sending cards and care packages when I had big exams coming up. She didn’t even get _that_ mad when I missed her biggest concert because I had a test!”

Nico’s heart skipped a beat. Why hadn’t Maki told her this was going to be in the speech? And why was she talking about _real_ examples, instead of making things up?

“So even though I was a terrible girlfriend for a little while there, Nico was still the best girlfriend anyone could ask for, and a big part of what got me through the harder moments.” Maki turned to her, and the tears in Nico’s eyes were only half faked.

“Thank you, Nico,” Maki said, and pulled Nico into a hug, which Nico returned as the crowd let out a collective “aww”.

Pulling back for a moment, Maki smiled at Nico and then kissed her, a more passionate kiss than usual. Not exactly french kissing- they were on stage in front of her relatives, after all- but not the chaste pecks that they’d been sharing from time to time.

The crowd cheered, and Maki pulled away to bow before taking Nico’s offered hand and allowing herself to be lead off the stage.

“What the fuck was that?” Nico hissed, when they were out of earshot. “Why didn’t you tell me about that part of the speech?”

“I wanted your reaction to be genuine,” Maki said flippantly.

“Well it _wasn’t_ , you just made me think on my feet,” Nico growled. “If I’d given my _genuine_ reaction it would have involved a lot less cutesy tearful embraces and more anger.”

“What’s the big deal?” Maki said, trying to deflect, but Nico was having none of it.

“I’m sick of your bullshit, that’s the big deal,” she said, trying not to raise her voice. “You already dragged me into this stupid farce and now you’re playing games with me? How much do you expect me to put up with?”

Maki looked like Nico had just slapped her.

“I-I didn’t mean to- I just-” she stammered. “I’m- I’m sorry.”

This was totally unfair. Maki was _completely_ out of line and was playing with Nico’s heart for no reason. But she looked so genuinely upset that not only could Nico not stay mad at her, she even felt a little guilty.

“Just… don’t do it again, okay?” Nico said, sighing. “You did a good job with the rest of the speech anyway. Let’s go meet and greet some more, okay?”

She offered a hand, and after a moment of hesitation, Maki took it, looking relieved.

“Thank you, Nico,” she said, squeezing Nico’s hand. Nico’s treacherous heart skipped another beat as she nodded and lead Maki out from the stage to face their excitable friends.

“Oh my god, Nico!” Honoka squealed, immediately latching onto her. “I can’t believe you did all that stuff! You never told us about any of it!”

 _Why would I have told you about it?! ‘Hey Honoka, just a quick heads up, I’m still embarrassing myself over a high school crush!’_ “Well, we _were_ trying to keep it secret, remember?” Nico said, smiling. “I wasn’t _technically_ supposed to be dating anyone, after all. I can’t go blabbing about all the things I’m doing for her to all my friends if I want to keep it under wraps.” As she spoke, she put an arm around Maki’s waist and drew her close. Honoka barely restrained herself from letting out a joyful “eee!” at the sight.

Nozomi, on the other hand, seemed less amused. She’d been strangely subdued all morning, in fact.

It was obvious that she suspected something. She had always been the one who was the biggest risk to the plan, given how well she knew Nico and how good she was at seeing through people. However, there was one thing preventing it from being a complete disaster: Nozomi wasn’t the type to just start throwing out accusations. She would wait and try to figure things out before she made any kind of move. That hesitation was their last chance.

Nico just had to keep Nozomi unsure of her conclusions for a few more hours.

After that, it wouldn’t matter _what_ she thought.

 


	6. The End?

After the speech, the ceremony began in earnest, and Nico quickly realized that she’d been premature in calling the previous day “overdone”. Not because that event had been particularly restrained, but because it left her with no words to capture just how excessive the succession ceremony was. A private orchestra, elegant tapestries, ice sculptures… it was like a coronation was taking place. In some ways, maybe it was. Given all their interest in dynasties, the Nishikinos might well consider themselves modern royalty.

Nico’s role in this production was blessedly simple. Now that Maki’s speech was over, her proof of family-building was no longer required to be in the spotlight, and Nico was expected only to sit in the front row of the audience and clap when appropriate. As long as she paid attention and avoided looking too bored, everything was fine.

The second part was the real challenge. It was fun to hear about all of Maki’s cute childhood stories (some of which she’d _definitely_ be mocking her for later) and hearing about her various accomplishments was interesting enough, even if she already knew most of them. But long history lessons on the Nishikino family weren’t exactly thrilling, and the amount of pomp and circumstance for their weird little rituals was as excessive as their party planning.

But even the Nishikino family didn’t have _infinite_ formalities, and eventually they reached the climax. Maki’s father passed Maki a fancy looking ring in a suitable overdramatic fashion, and everyone cheered. Apparently, it was the signet ring of the family which signified the heir, and ownership came with title to the name of... blah blah. Nico wasn’t especially interested in the fine details of their psuedo-crown. What was interesting, however, was that this apparently meant that Maki was officially accepted now. She was the successor.

Nico momentarily wondered what would happen if she stood up now and yelled “We tricked you! It was all fake!”

It probably wouldn’t end well. Doubtless they had some obscure procedure for revoking succession. Still, it was tempting, and it was distracting enough that Nico almost forgot what came after the end of the ceremony.

Before they could escape this party, they had to open the festivities by taking the first dance, out on the floor with everyone watching.

In some ways, Nico was dreading it. It was high pressure enough on its own, even without the distraction of Maki pressed against her. But as much as she was dreading that moment, she was almost relieved that it was finally here. It would, after all, be the end of their fake relationship.

Oh, sure, the party would go on for another hour or two after the dance, but no one would be expecting much from Nico. There was no need for further romantic gestures or casual closeness. Maki would let herself be “stolen away” by relatives, and Nico would chat to the handful of people she’d met who weren’t condescending sexist old men.

She found herself with mixed feelings about that idea.

She’d been desperate for the whole charade to be over most of the time, but now that the end was approaching, she was almost… sad. It hadn’t been a real relationship, of course, but after the first few days of tension, it hadn’t been that bad. With things mostly settled down between them and their routines in place, they’d enjoyed an odd sort of closeness as they shared their secret and lived intertwined lives. Nico found that Maki’s false kisses felt less like cruel teasing of what could be, and more like a gesture of affection, even it wasn’t romantic affection. She would almost miss it.

Almost.

Whatever benefits this relationship had, whatever comforts and warmth she had found in it… it was still fake. It was still a constant reminder of everything she couldn’t have, a constant picking at an emotional wound that hadn’t healed. She shouldn’t be here wallowing in pale imitations. She should be trying to do the healthy thing and move on. And after this last performance, that’s just what she’d do.

As the music struck up, she took Maki’s hand and tucked her other arm around Maki’s waist, as Maki rested her hand on Nico’s shoulder. She was leading, of course. Maki hadn’t even bothered to argue with her on that.

There was an entire orchestra playing, and it seemed that they’d chosen a classical western piece. Doubtless it was by someone with an unpronounceable name from a language even more alien to Nico than English, but it was a pleasant enough sound. As the two clung to each other and whirled around the dance floor, they shared a comfortable silence and let themselves be enveloped by the music. There was no need for muttered assurances that it was almost over. No need for affirmations that it was an act. Just the two of them, pressed close, enjoying a dance.

And then it was over.

Amid the applause, the two of them separated and bowed to each other. Then Maki was off to dance with her father, and Nico was left alone, a smile on her face and an ache in her heart.

* * *

And so... that was it.

The party ended. The last of the guests filtered out of the mansion. Nico and Maki returned to their hotel.

It only really hit Nico as they got to their door.

“We actually did it,” she said, amazed. They’d actually managed to fool everyone. Despite the scrutiny of Maki’s family and their closest friends, despite Nico playing both sides of the act, they’d gotten away with it.

Maki smiled. “It was mostly you,” she admitted, twirling her hair with a finger again. “...Thank you. For everything.”

Nico was practically giddy as Maki fished around in her purse for the room key. She’d pulled off the hardest acting job of her life, and neither Maki’s family nor Maki herself was any the wiser. She’d toed the line perfectly.

And then she screwed up.

It was fitting, really. Spot on comedic timing. Right at the final stretch, the couple of feet of straight track after the last hurdle, and Nico tripped on her own feet.

Caught up in the moment, Nico grabbed Maki and kissed her.

It was the kind of thing they’d done for the whole weekend. Once she was sure that any stray action wouldn’t alert Maki to her feelings, she’d allowed her desires to dictate her behaviour to an extent. After all, what better way to fake being in love than to act according to your own feelings of love? It made perfect sense.

Except for the fact that they were alone, and the deception should have been over.

At first, she didn’t even realize her mistake. But then she noticed Maki wasn’t kissing her back. She opened her eyes and pulled away to see Maki was staring at her in a shock, and in that instant the gravity of her mistake crashed down on her.

“Nico? Why did you-”

Nico ran.

Before Maki could even finish the question, Nico was out of the door and sprinting down the hall as fast as she could. Even if Maki had tried to run after her, she wouldn't have had a chance of catching up. She was still in her heels from the event, and Nico was wearing flats.

She didn’t stop running when she got to the lobby, or when she turned the corner down the street. By the time she finally did stop, gasping for breath, she was in a park, far enough from the hotel that she couldn’t even pick out the building anymore.

Of all the stupid things to do.

It was bad enough she’d done something as dumb as kissing Maki in celebration. But if she’d had any sense at all, she would have played it off. She would have claimed it was “hard to get out of character” or something. Instead, she’d as good as admitted there was a deeper reason by running away.

Her phone buzzed. It wasn’t the first time it had since she started running. Nico still didn’t check it. She didn’t even want to know what Maki was trying to tell her.

 _She’s telling you to stay away,_ a little voice inside her whispered. _She’s saying she’ll send you your luggage._

Nico knew it was her doubt talking. She knew it was just her fearing for the worst, not assessing the situation logically. And yet... what if that really _was_ Maki’s reaction? What if she was furious that Nico had taken advantage of their situation to kiss her, to be affectionate with her, when Maki wasn’t interested and Nico was? What if she never wanted to see Nico’s face ever again?

Or what if Maki _hadn’t_ figured it out?

There was no way Nico could play it off now. She couldn’t even begin to think of an excuse that would justify not just the kiss, but also her sudden departure. Was she going to have to spell it out to Maki’s face? Was she going to have to watch Maki realize the implications firsthand, to see the disgust on her face when she realized what it meant?

Groaning, Nico slumped down onto a bench and buried her head in her hands.


	7. The Other Side (Part 1)

Maki’s week had been, in a word, stressful.

There was no denying that, certainly. Being the centerpiece of a Nishikino ceremony was pressure enough. Adding deception on top of that was even worse. And to have that deception be _multilayered_ was enough to stretch Maki’s nerves tighter than a violin’s strings.

So to suddenly have her world turned upside down right when she thought she could _finally_ relax was tantamount to some manner of… of… _cosmic sadism_.

The entire disaster had started a year earlier. Maki was in the middle of exams, and yet her family’s elders still saw fit to harangue her about the lineage of the Nishikinos. It wasn’t as if Maki hadn’t put any thought into it- she had been raised a Nishikino, and she fully intended to live up to the name. But it was her sincere belief that the true way to be a Nishikino was to run a hospital and practice medicine to a standard that outstripped the rest of Japan. Just continuing a name and a fortune for its own sake was far from the proud tradition her father had sternly impressed upon her from a young age.

The elders thought otherwise.

So, desperate to get her off her back, she’d lied and said she was dating someone. And of course, given who _immediately_ popped to mind when she thought of dating someone, making up an excuse about a career that could be compromised by naming names was a natural lie.

It was only nine months later that the consequences of that tactic began to appear.

Of course, an event like this was hardly planned the week before. The graduation ceremony that would double as her official induction into the family’s line of succession was in the works months before. And it was nine months after her first lie that planning for her “plus one” began to involve contacting Maki.

She hadn’t been lying to Nico when she said there was no other way. She’d read the family records and by-laws over and over trying to find some kind of loophole. When that failed, she’d spent fruitless hours trying to figure out a way to plausibly construct an illusionary relationship to hide her lack of attachment and a way to have her date be “unable to attend”, but she realized it was hopeless. If they didn’t declare her partner unsuited for not showing up, they’d simply delay until they could make it. No fake illness, no urgent business trip, no family emergency could keep them busy forever. She would have to bring someone to the party, and they would have to be suitable. More than that, they would have to be someone who would have needed to keep a relationship secret, which sunk her desperate idea of hiring some kind of escort.

Only Nico fit the bill.

But, in truth, that was only half the reason Maki had come to Nico when she realized that she was going to need a fake date. The other reason was, well… Maki wasn’t that good of an actress.

Oh, sure, she could do _some_ things well- she’d mastered “seeming interested in old men bragging about their accomplishments” and she could feign disinterest or contempt quite well. But she wasn’t quite sure if “madly in love” was something she could project with enough realism to pass the scrutiny of bitter old patriarchs who cared more about her as a potential mother than a doctor.

So the solution was obvious.

Just pick someone who she didn’t have to _pretend_ to be in love with.

Maki had been in love with Nico for… years, at least. Certainly not back in high school- she’d _hated_ the older girl at first. When she’d first met her, the tiny senior’s arrogance and utter self-centeredness had immediately irritated Maki. As she grew to know Nico better, though, and realized how much of her obnoxious preening was a facade, she’d grown to grudgingly respect her. Perhaps even to be friends with her. But by the time Nico had graduated, Maki still wouldn’t have said she was in _love_ with her.

It was after her graduation that things had started to change.

Nico had never gone to college, a decision that Maki had thought was foolish at first but soon realized was a smart choice. Instead of delaying her career or splitting her focus, Nico had the confidence and the drive to reach for what she wanted with all her might. She’d exploded onto the idol scene like a firework, surpassing μs’ fame tenfold by the time she retired. And despite her busy schedule, she never lost contact with the others.

Maki especially.

As Maki buckled down to study harder and harder as she began her medical studies (and studying how to run her family’s business) her friendships started to dwindle and fade. Sure, she would still _say_ μs were her friends, but in reality, she’d go weeks without ever speaking to them.

Except Nico.

Nico made the effort to stay in contact even when she was on tour. She always remembered Maki’s birthday, and even when Maki was cranky and stressed, Nico always cheered her up.

That was when Maki started falling in love, probably.

Of course, it wasn’t _just_ because Nico was being nice. She wasn’t _that_ shallow. But knowing Nico as a caring friend instead of a stuck up arrogant senior idol let all the wonderful parts of Nico Yazawa shine through. Soon Maki found herself wondering how she’d never noticed them before. Obnoxiousness really could hide your charms, it seemed.

She’d never made a move before. She hadn’t been lying when she told Nico that she wasn’t interested in pursuing a relationship when she was busy trying to become a doctor. She’d let Nico think it was because it would be a distraction, but her real reason was a little less cold; she didn’t think she’d be much of a girlfriend when her days were full of books and labwork.

So she’d never told Nico about falling in love with her. What good would it have done? Nico couldn’t date. Maki wouldn’t date. Why risk losing what she had when she had nothing to gain?

And then Nico retired.

Suddenly, everything was different. Nico could date. More distressingly, Maki realized, she probably _would_ date. Now that she was retired, and planning to go to culinary school, the convenient shield Maki hadn’t even realized she was hiding behind was gone. Nico could be stolen away now. She could meet some nice chef girl- or chef _boy_ , come to think of it, Maki didn’t even know if Nico was gay- and then the next time Maki saw her, Nico could already be in love with someone else.

Maki had almost asked her out then, when they spoke after Nico’s retirement tour. But that was when a terrible thought had occurred to her. A thought that had materialized from all her hidden doubts, waiting to strike at the perfect time and shatter her gathered together courage.

When had she ever known Nico to wait for something to come to her?

Nico hadn’t passively sat around hoping to be an idol. She’d fought tooth and nail for what she’d wanted, made bold choices and worked herself to the bone even when it all seemed hopeless. She hadn’t waited for opportunity to knock, she’d chased it down and dragged it to her door.

If she had any interest in a relationship with Maki, would she really have been content to let nothing happen for this long?

Once it had occurred to her, it was all she could think about. Her confidence shattered, she’d failed to ask Nico out. Failed to even ask her if she was interested in anyone.

And then she graduated, and needed her plus one, and she’d called Nico.

She should have asked Nico out then. Some part of her had even intended to. But she’d been too cowardly, and instead she’d asked this unreasonable deception of her. When Nico had initially refused, Maki had almost confessed then, out of desperation. One last attempt before she gave up and signed away her love life for the sake of her career. But then Nico had agreed, and Maki had been allowed to selfishly hide a little longer.

It turned out to be harder than she’d predicted, but she’d held it together. As far as she could tell, Nico hadn’t had any idea that she was in love with her.

And then, all of a sudden, when everything should have been over, Nico had kissed her, and then ran away like the hotel was on fire.

Resigning herself to the fact that she’d long since missed her chance to catch up with her- assuming she even could- Maki took a deep breath and finished opening the hotel door. She calmly closed it behind her, put down her bag, and sat down on the couch.

Pulling out her phone, she idly texted Nico asking her to come back. It had almost no chance of being read, given the circumstances, but Maki vaguely felt that she should still do it. Waiting for a response gave her plenty of time to try and sort out her thoughts. And for that matter, her feelings.

What she felt most of all was confusion. She didn’t dare to hope that the kiss meant what she wanted it to mean- that Nico, somehow, had decided that she enjoyed having a relationship with Maki and was interested in continuing it past this weekend. That seemed extremely far fetched, and kissing her and then running away at the first sign of a less than eager reaction seemed like an unlikely approach for Nico to take. So if it wasn’t that, then what _did_ it mean?

Sighing and rubbing her temples, Maki fell back on her training. Don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t start with an idea in mind. Look at the facts presented from the beginning, and develop your diagnosis as you analyzed.

At first, Nico had been reticent, even hostile. That wasn’t hard to deal with. Falling back into the rhythm of fighting with Nico over nothing was natural. It was almost comforting. Denying being in love with her was easy too- Maki had been doing it long enough, after all.

And lying about her first kiss was just as easy. Nico, despite her cynical streak, was oddly romantic. Maki suspected that she might have a moral objection to taking Maki’s first kiss when Nico didn’t actually love her. An objection Maki certainly didn’t share- she’d have happily taken Nico’s first kiss if she had the chance. But unsurprisingly, she’d missed her opportunity for that prize. She tried not to dwell on who might have kissed Nico before. Thinking about that would simply be painful.

Still, their first kiss was hardly a disappointment. Keeping her professional composure was certainly a challenge after that, a fact that Nico pounced on, but luckily for Maki she’d taught herself to be business-like when she was overwhelmed to avoid scaring patients. There was a comfort in being robotically logical when your emotional side was going haywire, and the deception seemed to work just as well on Nico. Maki felt vaguely as if she should feel guilty for getting Nico to kiss her when she was secretly in love with the older girl, but why did it matter? She’d been honest about why they needed to kiss, and Nico had agreed. Was it really important if Maki also happened to enjoy it?

She’d also quite enjoyed-

No, she was getting ahead of herself. Chronological order. Map out the events, determine abnormal conditions, diagnose based on visible symptoms.

What had come next? Oh, right, Nico’s cover story. Maki had been surprised at how good it was. It seemed like acting wasn’t the only thing Nico was talented at as far as deception- the story was so plausible that Maki could almost believe it had happened herself.

Dealing with μs was surprisingly easy. Nico really was an exceptional actress- rather than trying to spin their relationship as sugary sweet, she simply was the same slightly obnoxious Nico as always about it, letting Maki follow her lead without any trouble. Nozomi gave the pair of them some odd looks, but if she had any concerns she kept them to herself. Possibly she was just concerned about her friend’s sudden feelings for Maki after Nico’s blatant disinterested previously, a theory supported by her pulling Nico aside for a short chat after the announcement.

All the rest of μs had been unreservedly accepting, which Maki found oddly comforting. It was nice to know that if Nico had loved her back, their friends would be supportive. Rin and Honoka practically started throwing confetti, and Hanayo seemed happy as well, in an admittedly more reserved way. Eli tried to hide it, but Maki could tell she was excited too. Kotori had been as supportive as Maki had come to expect from her.

Umi had also been happy for them, but she was predictably disapproving about their conduct.

“I hope you don’t plan to be excessive with your PDA in front of your family,” she’d sternly warned Maki, as Maki had shown her to her room. “It’s all well and good if you and Nico feel strongly about each other, but there’s a time and place for that.”

Maki had resisted the urge to roll her eyes when, as if on cue, Kotori had glued herself to Umi’s arm and shortly after Umi sported a blush that implied that Kotori’s unseen hand was getting up to mischief outside of Maki’s line of sight.

“We’ll keep it clean, Umi, don’t worry,” she’d reassured her, and Umi had managed a slight smile, one of her own hands vanishing behind her back for a moment followed by a quick flicker of pain on Kotori’s face and Kotori’s hand reappearing at her side.

“...I just don’t want anyone to give you trouble,” Umi had replied, and Maki smiled. However strict Umi might be, it came from a place of love.

If anything, it had felt too easy. Maki felt like she’d been bracing herself for nothing. And considering how hard she’d tried to conceal her feelings, and how much she was sure she _hadn’t_ been in love with Nico in high school, it was a little annoying how they all pretended like they’d seen it coming for years.

Nico’s reaction when she shared that thought was unexpected.

* * *

“Ugh, if I hear one more smug remark about how they saw this coming…” Maki grumbled, as they returned to their room.

“What? Why are you all annoyed? That just makes it easier for us,” Nico said, missing the point with a nonchalant shrug. Ever the professional. Well, it made sense that she was only worried with how believable the act was- it was her major stake in this, after all.

“It’s irritating that they’re so willing to accept that we’re going out and that they’ve apparently always thought it would happen,” Maki frowned as she said it, suddenly unsure of herself. Was she just being oversensitive because she had something to hide? Perhaps they were just being polite.

“Excuse me?” Nico’s voice suddenly sounded angry as she kicked the door shut and glared at Maki, hands on her hips. What had gotten her all upset all of a sudden? “What the hell does _that_ mean? Am I not good enough for you now?”

Maki gave her an exasperated look. Of course. That was what Nico was _actually_ concerned about. She’d gotten the notion in her head that Maki somehow was looking down on her. As if Maki’s problem wasn’t with their friends playing matchmaker, or seeing through her, but was with _who_ they decided to pair her up with.

“Why does everything have to be about your ego?” she snapped, suddenly more irritated at Nico than the rest of them. Way to completely miss the point again, Nico. Way to make it all about _you_ again, Nico.

Nico was clenching her fists now.

“My ego?! You’re not happy because people aren’t constantly going ‘oh I can’t believe you settled for Nico, Maki!’ and _my_ ego is the problem?!” she shouted.

Maki glared at her. As if Nico needed more people reassuring her that she was cutest and most talented in the group. The world had already done that when Nico became the only one with a solo career. Did she really think there was a human being on _earth_ who could be described as “settling” for the most beloved woman in Japan? “You’re being ridiculous.”

“ _I’m_ being ridiculous?! I’m not the one who started this insane ruse _a year in advance_ without even telling my fake partner about it until three days before the big reveal! I’m not the one who’s complaining that this stupid plan is working after I was the one who proposed it in the first place!” Nico’s voice was getting louder and more strained, and Maki found herself stunned at the sudden passion. Hadn’t they just been quibbling over next to nothing? Why was Nico so angry?

“Maybe I should go and tell everyone exactly what’s actually going on, so that they can know that you’re not _lowering yourself_ to dating some stupid washed up ex-idol girl who never even went to college!”

Maki paled at the sudden realisation that Nico was serious. “What? Nico, I don’t think you’re-” Nico had cut her off before she could finish.

“But no, I’m sure that you’re _willing to suffer that humiliation_ all _for the sake of the patients_ , right?” she snapped, and Maki’s words died in her throat, staring at Nico in disbelief. She hadn’t expected Nico to know her feelings, of course, but did Nico really think she was _that_ cold? That calculating? That she had that low of an opinion of Nico?

Before she could even manage to pull together a response, Nico was leaving, slamming the door behind her hard enough to make Maki wince. Her angry footsteps retreated down the hall, leaving Maki alone in the room still trying to figure out what had just happened.

* * *

It was a long time before she returned. For the first hour or two, Maki had contented herself with reading and boredly flipping channels, figuring that Nico just needed to blow off some steam or had gotten distracted by a pack of fans.

It became harder to be that calm after the third hour ticked past.

It was even later still when Nico finally snuck back into the room.

“Nico! Where have you been?” Maki demanded, trying to hide how relieved she was. She’d been tormenting herself with fears of Nico being kidnapped or falling down a flight of stairs, and was almost at the point of going out to look for her.

Nico still seemed sullen. Whatever she’d been doing clearly hadn’t been sufficient to excise her bad mood. She rolled her eyes. “You’re not _actually_ my girlfriend, Maki, so it’s none of your business.”

Maki flinched at the bite in Nico’s tone as she stormed off into the bathroom. They’d fought a lot, sure, but it had been a while since Nico had said anything to her with that level of malicious intent.

And she would be lying if she pretended that the words Nico chose didn’t contribute to the pain that blossomed in her chest.

 _You’re not_ actually _my girlfriend_.

It felt like a rebuke. Like Nico had gazed in her her heart and chastised her for her lack of focus. Nico hadn’t agreed to let Maki live out her fantasy for a weekend. She’d agreed to help Maki fool her family, and nothing else. Pretending like Nico owed her anything, like they were actually close, was just selfish.

It was a while before Nico reemerged from the bathroom. Maki glanced up at the sound of the door and Nico looked unhappy to find her still awake.

“...Look, I’m sorry,” Nico said, reluctantly.  “This is… stressful for me. So don’t get all worried that I’m angry at you or something.”

Maki just stared at Nico, trying to find any hint of what was so stressful for her, when just hours ago she’d been completely unconcerned by not only their fake relationship by also by their friends’ reaction. Predictably, Nico was wearing an impenetrable mask. Right. Maki wasn’t her girlfriend, so why would Nico trust her with her problems? She sighed.

“Whatever, if you say so,” she said, and then a fragment of what Nico had said earlier popped in her mind. “And I don’t think you’re _dumb_ , I don’t know where you got that from.”

Was this something Nico had been worrying about? Maki had never known her to be insecure about her choice not to go to college. Was it something that actually bothered her? Had she been worried all this time that Maki looked down on her for it?

“Sure, I know.”

Nico seemed sincere enough, and Maki allowed herself to relax.

“...Good. I was worried you thought…” Maki paused. Thought what? Thought Maki was a snob? Thought that she was going to think less of Nico for following her dreams?

“Nevermind.” Maki was being paranoid. Nico was fine. She’d just been angry and stressed out about something, and said some crazy things. Maybe there were problems at cooking school. Or she was still readjusting to not being an idol anymore.

As Nico nodded and went to retrieve her pillow, Maki’s arm moved faster than her brain and she clasped Nico’s wrist.

“...Maki?” Nico sounded confused, and not undeservedly. What on earth was she doing? They’d already agreed that Nico sleeping on the floor wasn’t a risk to their act, hadn’t they? Why was she stopping her?

Because she was lonely? Well, that was part of it, but if that was all she would have said something before. She could deal with lonely. She had been for years.

No, the reason she’d grabbed Nico’s arm, she realized, was because she wanted to help.

Whatever was stressing Nico out, she’d made it clear that she didn’t want to share it with Maki. But if she wouldn’t let Maki in, maybe Maki could at least… comfort her. Somehow.

“...Can’t you just sleep in the bed?” Maki murmured, not looking directly at Nico. “Please? For tonight, at least.”

“What, you think that your parents are going to-” Nico started, but Maki cut her off.

“It’s not because of that,” Maki said, glancing up and meeting Nico’s gaze. _Let me help you,_ she thought, willing Nico to understand. But when she looked into Nico’s eyes she didn’t see relief, or comfort, or anything. She just saw confusion and reluctance.

This was a bad idea. She was crossing a line, trying to barge her way into Nico’s problems like this. Clearly Nico just wanted to be left alone.

“...Sorry. I’m asking too much.” She let go of Nico’s wrist and turned over, hiding her face so Nico couldn’t see her turning red. Stupid. She should have left well enough alone. “Nevermind. Good night, Nico.”

There was a silence as she resolutely closed her eyes and pretended not to notice that Nico wasn’t moving, no doubt staring at her in confusion or annoyance, wondering how exactly she could tell Maki to leave her alone in a way that wouldn’t make her meddle more.

Then, to her surprise, she felt the covers being lifted and the bed sag as Nico climbed into it.

“Oh fine, if you _insist_ ,” Nico said haughtily, in the way she always did when she was trying not to admit something. “I suppose one more favour isn’t a big deal given how generous Nico is already being.”

Maki rolled her eyes and mumbled “Right, sure, Nico.”

“Your gratitude is severely lacking,” she heard Nico complain.

“Thank you, Nico,” Maki said obediently. If Nico wanted this to be a ‘favour’, that was okay. Maki wasn’t keeping score. Whatever it took for Nico to let down her guard a little, that was okay with Maki.

She heard Nico shuffle around a little before settling in, and allowed herself a small smile. It wasn’t much, but at least she could try to make Nico feel a little better. Just like how it made her feel better when μs had slept close to her when she was scared on their first tour. Just being close to a friend did a lot to help with stress. Whatever it was that was causing it for Nico.

* * *

Maki stared blankly at the wall. None of this explained what Nico had done. If anything, it made it _more_ confusing. If Nico was mad at her, or stressed out by the situation, why would she kiss her?

She felt an irrational pang of annoyance. As if Nico had any right to be the one stressed out by the situation. She had nothing at stake, and nothing to lose. Maki could lose her chance to marry someone she cared about if this went wrong, and she could lose her friend as well if Nico ever realized that Maki was in love with her.

And what would Nico lose if everything went wrong?

Nothing.

She wasn’t the one who had to lie to her own family. She wasn’t the one who had to play into a stupid outdated tradition just to try and help people. She wasn’t the one who had to fight with her own feelings to try and rebuff the teasing advances of her crush. Why was _Maki_ at fault? It was just like Nico.

She took another deep breath and forced herself to calm down. Regardless of whether or not Nico had any investment in the deception, she was still doing Maki a favour. It wasn’t her fault that Maki was too cowardly to confess her real feelings and willing to settle for a fake.

That said, there were definitely some perks to the fake relationship.

Like the morning after their strange argument.

* * *

Nico had rushed off to the shower as soon as she woke up, for whatever reason. Maki, mindful of the limited time they had, had started to change while Nico presumably got dressed in the bathroom.

That was when Nico had revealed that she had, in fact, _forgotten_ her clothes and was coming out to get them. Maki would have greatly preferred to have known that before she look off her shirt.

Nico, surprised by what to her must have looked like the least subtle seduction attempt any of her fans had ever stooped to, lost her grip on her towel and it fell to the floor.

Suddenly, Maki’s embarrassment at Nico seeing her topless became far, far less important.

Nico had the irresistible body of a dancer.

Her legs didn’t bulge with muscle, exactly, the way a body builder’s would, but they were taut and her muscles were certainly pronounced. Her stomach was tantalizingly defined as well. Not quite to the level of six pack territory, but Maki suspected that if she were run her hands across it, she’d be able to feel each muscle individually. The idea was an exciting one. Her shoulders were toned, leading to arms that, unsurprisingly, seemed to be the least bulky part of her body. Her routines involved arm motions, of course, but the majority of the work was centered on her clearly powerful legs and core muscles. Maki’s eyes stopped stalling and took in the, ah… more rare sights on display. Nico’s breasts weren’t large, but they were perky and inviting. And the carefully trimmed triangle between her legs was even more inviting.

Realizing that the moment was starting to drag on, Maki tore her eyes away and mumbled an explanation.

Her searching gaze had only had a few precious seconds, but Maki considered the morning a stroke of rather extreme luck. Sure, she’d maybe shown Nico a little more than she’d intended to, but it was a trade she would make any day for what she’d seen in return.

No. Stop dwelling.

Focus on the important parts. Getting sidetracked by a nice memory wouldn’t help solve anything.

Then again, what _would_?

Maki rubbed the bridge of her nose and let out a groan. So far, all this trip down memory lane had done was raise more questions. Why had Nico been stressed? Why did she get suddenly touchy at some things, while being completely unconcerned by others?

Why did she kiss Maki?

Deciding that she wasn’t going to solve this quickly, Maki stood and turned on the teakettle as she started to change into something more comfortable than her full formal party attire. She just had to keep trying until she figured it out.

Seeing that Nico still hadn’t responded, she texted her again. What would she do if Nico _didn’t_ end up coming back? Would she have to call the police? Organize a search party? Could she do it without raising suspicion?

Well, for now, anyway, she was better off just thinking.

Maybe the party itself held the answers.


	8. The Other Side (Part 2)

All Nishikino family events ended up the same way.

Catering was handled by the same company, one that always gave the family a frankly _outrageous_ discount as a show of gratitude for getting some very important contracts for medical conferences. The family chefs always made their own contribution to the proceedings as well, working with the caterers to increase the already high standard of the food to a level that most catered events couldn’t dream of.

Decorating was less consistent, but regardless of the means, Nishikino taste didn’t vary much. The same elegant sensibilities dictated the decour, whether it was a graduation, a birthday party, or a wake. This particular time, there was an undercurrent of regal motifs. After all, the event was centered around the naming of a new heir. A process that the family took very seriously.

Even more seriously than Nico realized.

If Maki was caught in her ruse, things wouldn’t be as simple as she’d told Nico. Signing the marriage contract was a guarantee- if she tried to refuse that after being found out, she wouldn’t just be cut out of succession, she’d be _disowned_. It was even possible that they would decide this whole affair was a sign that she was trying to destroy the succession and cut her out even after she signed the contract, or only allow her to be the successor when she had a child. That meant either putting her life on hold to rush into a pregnancy she didn’t want, or risking losing everything if her father passed away unexpectedly. Being caught, in other words, could completely spoil Maki’s chance at ever inheriting the family hospital.

The thought made her question her choice all over all. Why didn’t she just go to them now and sign the contract, and admit that she didn’t think Nico would end up being her wife? They wouldn’t have to know them dating was a lie. She could just frame it as being unsure that Nico was invested in the relationship long term. Was her freedom to marry who she chose really that important to her, that she’d risk something else so important for it?

The truth was, she was just greedy.

As much as she tried to tell herself that she was content with the benefits of Nico pretending for her, she knew it was a lie. She wanted a real romance. She also wanted her family’s hospital _and_ her career. People said that if you chased two rabbits you wouldn’t catch either, but Maki was determined not to let any of her rabbits escape. No matter what she had to do to trap them. She wasn’t a high schooler anymore, content to do what was expected of her and take what was given to her. She’d learned to try to take what she wanted, and she was going to reach out for it with all her strength.

But it didn’t change the fact that the event was tense.

Things started started off with the rest of family sharing their various accomplishments. Uncle Satoshi had managed to set up a very important deal in pharmaceuticals, an impressive feat given that the previous man in his position had made a lot of enemies in the industry. It turned out that he’d made a fairly risky gambit of threatening to cut their products out entirely if they refused to deal directly with the hospitals, and it had paid off, allowing them to get wholesale prices for some very expensive medications.

Nico, predictably, seemed bored by it all.

Maki couldn’t really blame her. It was pretty specific information, and to someone who had no investment in medicine it was fairly impenetrable- which wasn’t helped by her uncle’s propensity for self-aggrandizement. However, given that Nico also didn’t show much interest in Yusuke, Hideyuki, or Ichiro, it seemed like that she simply didn’t care much about the speeches. A fact that made Maki nervous- if Nico came off as a troublemaker or dismissive of the family, she’d be ruled out as unsuitable right away.

So she coached Nico a little on what to say. Hopefully it would help when Nico had to actually talk to the people she was currently pretending not to ignore. What it did do, at least, was trigger Nico being oddly affectionate. Maybe she just decided it would be safer, or maybe she was bored and felt like focusing on acting, but either way it had the effect of comforting Maki’s nerves. So while she’d suffered through the first batch of speakers tense and on edge, she was able to relax with Nico’s head resting gently on her shoulder and their fingers intertwined as they listened to her cousin Issei talk about the new therapy his team had been testing in Sendai. It was nice.

When the last of the speeches came to an end and Nico pulled away, Maki was struck by the loss. The realization that it wouldn’t happen again, that in future she would listen to these speeches alone, made her heart ache.

She really was greedy.

But she didn’t have long to dwell on that. It wasn’t long before other worries arose.

Uncle Satoshi, for the first time that Maki had ever seen, refused to accept generic praise and pressed Nico for details. Worse still, after Nico had done an admirable job of deflecting, he followed it up by insulting her.

 _Please_ please _don’t make a scene_ … Maki thought, but it was too late. Nico’s pride was on the line, and Maki should have known the chance of her backing down was less than zero. She shot back viciously, and Maki braced herself for strike one against her potential girlfriend.

However, to her surprise and relief, instead of starting a furious tirade, Satoshi laughed, complementing Nico on her assertiveness. Perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised her, given what he was like, but Maki still had the uncanny feeling of a bullet flying past her head, close enough to ruffle her hair.

It really was astounding watching Nico work.

Maki had tried to follow some of Nico’s career, but with how busy she was she couldn’t catch every interview or anything. Seeing how naturally Nico slotted into her role, being just the right amount of possessive and affectionate, sliding easily between respectfully serious and companionably playful depending which relative she was speaking to... Maki was impressed. She’d definitely made the right choice. She couldn’t imagine anyone else in μs being so convincing, let alone as capable of slotting neatly into the social role of Maki’s girlfriend.

Of course, not knowing the Nishikinos was a little help. Maki had the sneaking suspicion she wouldn’t have been quite so friendly with Aunt Sakai if she’d know how harsh Sakai had been about Maki becoming an idol. She doubted Nico would be much impressed with her cousin Keito if she’d know he believed that Maki was unfit to succeed the family name because a woman doctor was clearly just ‘an arrogant nurse who didn’t know her place’.

But ignorant of the politics and infighting of her family, Nico easily befriended everyone she was introduced to, and by the end of the day Maki really started to believe this ruse might work.

* * *

This time, Nico had gotten into their shared bed of her own accord. That, combined with the fact that her complaining seemed only to be about the boring stories her family had inflicted on them, gave Maki some hope. Maybe she really had helped to relieve some of Nico’s stress, one way or another.

Nico began to complain again as soon as Maki had joined her in bed. “So is this your family’s idea of celebrating your accomplishments? None of the speeches were even about you.”

“How would you know? You barely paid attention to them,” Maki shot back as she turned to lock eyes with Nico. This was nice. Familiar. Staying close with Nico while they fought without any real animosity, sniping at each other without any real dislike.

Well, maybe “familiar” was the wrong term. They weren’t really ever this close. But it was still nice.

“I still can’t believe you stood up to Uncle Satoshi like that,” Maki said. “I was ready to kill you if you’d started the event off by making an enemy.”

Alright, _that_ wasn’t true. She was pretty sure that even if Nico had starting making out with her cousin Yukiko and talking about how Maki was _very_ accepting of an open relationship, Maki would still want to hug her more than strangle her.

“Okay, first, _I’m_ not the one who started that conversation with ‘your career takes no skill’, and second _you_ said that if I just nodded and said he was brave everything would be fine!”

Maki had kind of hoped Nico had forgotten that. “He’s never asked for details before!” she said defensively, holding up her hands. “He’s usually content to just talk to himself about how great he is.”

She paused as a connection clicked into place. Who else did she know who was fond of talking about how amazing and talented they were? “No wonder the two of you got along so well,” she mused, suddenly understanding why that hadn’t gone as terribly as she expected.

“Excuse me?!” Nico said. She looked annoyed, but more importantly, when she took issue with the statement, she leaned in closer to glare at Maki, bringing their faces close together. Close enough to remind Maki’s brain of the situation she was in.

Alone. In the same bed. Inches from Nico.

“You’re right, though, other than everyone wanting to meet you I wasn’t really the focus of today.” Maki hurriedly moved on with the conversation, hoping to distract herself before Nico noticed her odd reaction. “Whenever there’s a big event with the family the first day always ends up being a general family reunion. Tomorrow will be actually about the heiress ceremony and my graduation.”

“Huh. Must be nice to have that once in a while, even if you have to remember a bunch of names of cousins.” Nico said it slightly wistfully, which surprised Maki. Between the two of them, it was hard to argue that _Maki_ was the one with the closer familial relationships.

“Do you not ever see your extended family?” Maki asked.

Nico cleared her throat, for some reason. “I don’t think I _have_ any,” she said. “Mom’s never mentioned anyone else, anyway. Dad never did back when he was alive either.”

“...That must be lonely,” Maki said. She remembered the emptiness of her house when her parents were busy, and how exciting it was when Uncle Satoshi came to stay and she had someone to play with for a few weeks.

Nico laughed. “I don’t think you have to worry about me being _lonely_ when I lived in a tiny house with four other people.”

“I guess that’s true,” Maki said. Of course. Nico didn’t need extended family for that. She had her direct family.

“And my family has always been a big part of my life. Cocoa, Cocoro, and Cotarou were my first fans, after all!”

Maki smiled. Nico seemed so proud when she talked about them. Maki had heard a lot about having siblings, a lot of it less than positive, but when Nico talked about her family it made Maki wonder if she was missing out. Maybe her childhood would have been a little warmer if she’d had a big sister like Nico.

A silence sprung up between the two of them, but it wasn’t awkward. Maki was just happy to lie there looking at Nico.

She was so beautiful.

Nico always looked attractive, of course. She was a master of style and makeup, and you could look at any photo of her in a magazine and marvel at how perfect she looked. But when she was dressing up, she dressed up like an idol. She went for “cute”. “Adorable”. “Cherubic”. When she wasn’t focused on that, just lying here without artifice, Maki could see that maturity suited her just as well. Maybe better.

“Why do you never wear your hair down anyway, Nico?” Maki asked, gazing at Nico’s hair mesmerized. She always used to wear it in twin tails that made her look cute but childish. When it was cascading like this across her shoulders, it looked so different. Nico looked so different.

I hadn’t really hit her before just how different the woman in front of her now was from the girl she’d known in highschool. How much more grown up and breathtakingly beautiful.

“I dunno, I just liked the twin tails look as lot as an idol, and these days I’m more into a bun-” Nico’s voice suddenly cut off. Her hair was so soft and lovely...

“It looks so pretty like this…” Maki murmured. Nico swallowed nervously, and Maki glanced up at her. Nico stared back at her with an odd expression. It was… like looking into the eyes of a rabbit and a tiger, all at once. Timid, but at the same time only a single moment from pouncing, with a hunger that Maki could see twinkling deep inside them. Maki was transfixed.

“M-Maki?” And then the spell was broken. Nico’s voice had none of the tiger in it, only the rabbit, confused and hesitant. Unsure of what Maki was doing.

And just what the hell _was_ Maki doing?

She hadn’t even realized she’d started stroking Nico’s hair. It had just seemed so natural.

As if they were lovers, lying staring at each other in bed together.

She jerked her hand away and flushed, trying to mumble out some kind of explanation.

“S-Sorry, I didn’t-”

She was babbling. Forget it.

She turned away from Nico, hiding the blush spreading across her face. “Good night, Nico,” she managed, trying to calm her breathing.

“G-Good night,” Nico replied. She still sounded startled. So much for _reducing_ her stress. Good job, Maki. As if she didn’t have enough to worry about, now she had to ponder why her friend was suddenly acting weird.

* * *

The next morning, Maki didn’t have the luxury of worrying about _Nico’s_ stresses.

On the first day of the celebration, all she’d really had to worry about was Nico behaving herself and neither of them doing anything particularly suspicious. Today, she had a much harder task.

Given that the second day was more focused on her, Maki had to give a speech. She knew she shouldn’t be worried about it- she’d performed in front of much larger crowds with full dance routines, after all. But this was different. Giving a speech in front of her family, in front of all the elders that would decide her future… she was terrified she was going to do something wrong.

And, truth be told, she was terrified of Nico’s reaction.

She’d practiced her speech with Nico before. She needed to rehearse it, after all. But she’d left out one part. It was stupid of her; she should have just read it as well. But she couldn’t bring herself to say it, alone with the two of them, where Nico didn’t have to pretend. She couldn’t face the prospect of Nico laughing it off, mocking her for how over the top she was going with the performance. And so she’d kept silent about that part, only practicing it quietly in the shower when Nico couldn’t hear. What if she forgot part of it? What if Nico was so appalled by it that she broke character?

“MAKI!” Nico’s loud shout snapped Maki out of her panicking. Now or never.

* * *

It had gone much better than Maki had dared to hope. Her family had liked her speech, she’d remembered it perfectly, and Nico had played her role exactly right. As the two of them headed off stage to the applause of the audience, Maki felt pride swell up in her chest at how well everything had turned out.

It was short lived.

“What the fuck was that?” Nico’s voice was quiet to avoid carrying, but Maki could hear the fury in it. “Why didn’t you tell me about that part of the speech?”

“I wanted your reaction to be genuine,” Maki lied. She wanted the exact opposite, actually.

“Well it _wasn’t_ , you just made me think on my feet,” Nico growled. “If I’d given my _genuine_ reaction it would have involved a lot less cutesy tearful embraces and more anger.”

_I know, Nico. That was why I didn’t want to see it._

“What’s the big deal?” Maki said, trying to sound casual.

“I’m sick of your bullshit, that’s the big deal,” Nico shot back, the venom in her voice deepening. “You already dragged me into this stupid farce and now you’re playing games with me? How much do you expect me to put up with?”

She… hadn’t even considered that. Maki stared at Nico horrified, only now realizing what this seemed like from the other end. Like Maki was messing with Nico. Testing her acting ability.

“I-I didn’t mean to- I just-” she stammered. _I just wanted to pretend you thought my feeling were sweet. I just wanted to pretend you wouldn’t laugh at what I found romantic._ “I’m- I’m sorry.”

“... Just… don’t do it again, okay?” Nico said, sighing. The anger was gone from her voice, mostly, but she sounded frustrated. “You did a good job with the rest of the speech anyway. Let’s go meet and greet some more, okay?”

Nico extended a hand that Maki didn’t deserve.

“Thank you, Nico,” Maki whispered as she took her hand, wishing that she could express how much she meant it.

* * *

Nothing else from the party stood out.

Maki sighed as she realized she’d run out of memories to examine.

None of it made sense.

It was clear that Nico was under pressure from something. Her acting erratically made sense, given the stress that she was already suffering. Half the time, Maki only seemed to make it worse, whatever it was, so her doing something odd at the end of the whole affair made sense. But kissing Maki? That was still a mystery.

Maki glanced up at the sound of the door opening.

Nico was in the doorway, her fists clenched at her sides and her eyes on her feet.

Maki had hoped to have an answer when she confronted Nico. She wanted to be able to stride up to her confidently, tell her she knew exactly why she had kissed her, and have the perfect thing to say already prepared.

But she had no idea. No idea why Nico had done what she did, and no idea what to say. She wasn’t even sure what she was hoping would end up happening.

No, that was a lie. She knew what she wanted. She just didn’t think it was an option.

But then again, she hadn’t thought Nico kissing her was a possibility.

She took a deep breath.

“Hello, Nico. I think we need to talk.”

 


	9. Cards on the Table

Nico hadn’t wanted to come back. She really hadn’t. Frankly, she’d considered not doing so at all. She could text Nozomi, explain the situation, get her to grab her bags from Maki’s room, then take a plane and be gone without seeing Maki again.

She wasn’t sure why she’d decided not to, in the end. Maybe it was because leaving it half-finished would leave a bad taste in her mouth. Maybe it was just because she’d gotten up the courage to read the messages from Maki and found that Maki was asking her to come back. Or maybe it was because she had some stupid hope that things would work out in her favour.

Whatever the case, she’d come back, steeled herself for the worst, and pushed open the door of their hotel room. Now she stood stiffly in the doorway, waiting for Maki’s reaction.

“Hello, Nico. I think we need to talk.”

Maki’s voice was level. Nico couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. It meant she wasn’t furious, at least. Probably.

Nico forced herself to step into the room, closing the door behind her. No need to let the whole hotel hear Maki yell at her, after all. She walked over to Maki with the reluctant gait of a death row inmate.

Right. They needed to “talk”. They needed to talk about how their friendship was over because Nico lost control and screwed up.

She glanced up at Maki’s face nervously, expecting anger or disappointment or disgust. Instead, she saw Maki staring back at her with an expression that seemed to be closer to hesitation than anything else.

The silence stretched on to a minute. Then two.

Finally, Maki spoke.

“Why did you kiss me, Nico?”

“...” Nico suddenly felt a flash of irritation. That was it? That was how Maki was going to start this conversation? What, did she want it spelled out for her? Was it not clear enough already?

“Because I wanted to,” Nico said sarcastically, and was rewarded with Maki frowning.

“What does that mean? Why did you w-”

She couldn’t be serious.

“Why don’t you _guess_ , Maki, since you’re so smart?” Nico snapped.

This was ridiculous. Yes, Nico had been the one who screwed up and kissed Maki. So maybe Maki had the right to be mad. But that didn’t mean she had the right to continue screwing with her. Like she had when she suddenly changed the script of her speech. Like she had when she randomly asked Nico to sleep in the same bed as her. Like she had when she suddenly started caressing her hair with a look on her face like she was gazing at a real girlfriend.

“What? What is this, some kind of elaborate joke?” Maki demanded. She looked angry now, but it was too late for that. Way too late. Nico was angrier.

“Is that what you think? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that _that’s_ what you think of me.” Unbelievable. A joke. As if Nico was a big fan of practical jokes with no punchline. ‘Haha! I kissed you! Imagine that, how hilarious, the idea of me thinking you might actually like me! Pranked!’

Fine, then. Laugh it up, Maki.

“I’m leaving,” Nico said flatly.

Coming back to the room was a mistake. How could she possibly have assumed this would go well? She should have left well enough alone. She didn’t owe Maki anything- quite the opposite, in fact.

She started towards her bags, not bothering to look at Maki any more.

“Tell your family I had a family emergency or something. Or don’t, I don’t care.”

“Wait!” Maki grabbed her arm, stopping Nico in her tracks. “Don’t-”

Maki hesitated. Her anger was gone, and she looked nervous now, and faintly desperate. Maybe she realized she’d gone too far. “Don’t go.”

“Why the hell not?” Nico asked, glaring at her and pulling her arm away. “We did it. You’re the heir. Congratulations on your accomplishments. Why do you need me here anymore?”

_Because I want to rub it in your face that I don’t love you._

“Because I love you!”

Nico’s thoughts ground to a halt.

While she stood there, staring blankly, her brain unable to process what her ears had just heard, Maki kept talking.

“I don’t understand you!” Maki said, frustration in her voice and tears at the corner of her eyes. “I don’t understand why you’ve been acting so weird the last few days, I don’t understand why you kissed me, and I don’t understand why you’re angry!”

Her fists were clenched at her sides now. “You never tell me anything and you always hide what you’re feeling! I don’t _know_ what you meant by kissing me, because you won’t tell me, and I love you and I want it to mean that you love me but then you come back here and try to leave and how am I supposed to understand that?!”

“I-” Nico’s head was spinning. She grasped desperately to whatever coherent thoughts she could form.

“But you said you didn’t,” she said, remembering with painful clarity the day she’d first come to the hotel. “You said you picked me because it was convenient, not because you had feelings for me. Why did you ask me to pretend to date you if you wanted me to _actually_ date you?”

“Because I needed you to do it even if you didn’t feel the same way,” Maki said. “I didn’t think you’d agree to go out with me, but I thought you might agree to fake it. If you’d turned that down I would have asked you out as a last resort, but if I told you how I felt first I thought… I thought you wouldn’t agree to pretend if you knew I loved you.”

She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “I was scared. I was afraid that you’d reject me and then I’d have to marry some stranger and pretend to love him and act like I was happy so you wouldn’t feel bad.”

Nico sat down on the bed heavily, still reeling. This whole time, Maki had been in love with her too? They’d been in love with each other, both trying to convince each other they weren’t and everyone else they were?

No wonder they’d managed to make everyone think they were in love. They hadn't needed to make anything up.

It was almost funny.

“Well?” Maki looked apprehensive.

“Well what?” Nico asked.

Maki’s eyes narrowed. “You _still_ haven’t told me anything.” she said.

She was right. Somehow, in all of this, Nico had never actually _told_ Maki how she felt. How she’d wanted to date her for years. How every faked gesture was what she really wanted to do. How much she wanted her and wanted to be with her.

As soon as the realization hit her, everything became clear again.

Maki _loved her_.

It wasn’t fake, it wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t a dream. Maki actually loved her.

Nico sprung out of the bed towards Maki, wrapping her arms around her and kissing her desperately. Maki was bewildered for a moment, then kissed back hungrily. It wasn’t the chaste kisses they’d shared to fool people. It was a real, passionate, needy kiss, even more than their first kiss where Nico had let herself be swept away and pour her feelings into it.

Maki pulled away for air. “You still… haven’t…” she managed, gasping for breath.

“I love you too, you idiot,” Nico said, cutting her off. “I’ve been in love with you for years.”

As a relieved smile crossed Maki’s face, Nico dived in for another kiss.

* * *

The next morning, μ’s gathered together for breakfast in a nice local cafe.

It was the last time the nine of them would all be in one place for a while, a fact that was emphasized by the presence of half a dozen suitcases. Maki had expected Kotori to leave quickly- it was a long way back to France, and she was in the middle of a business internship- but she was surprised that Honoka was also taking one of the first flights she could find. Apparently the passion she’d once had for school idols had transferred very neatly to small business ownership, and she insisted that she couldn’t be away from the bakery for long.

Nico was leaving soon too. She’d already missed a few classes coming early, and she didn’t want to fall too far behind, even if she reassured Maki that she could “ace this class in her sleep”.

The only change in plans was that Maki had decided she would be going with her.

Her internship at the hospital didn’t start for months, yet. Her plan had been to stay nearby, continuing her studies alone and preparing for the grueling years ahead of her. But now, a much more pleasant prospect was available.

Nico, for all her fame, still grew up a tiny house, and it showed. Her apartment wasn’t big, even though she could have bought a mansion. But as small as it was, it was still big enough for two. If they didn’t mind being close. And Maki could study just as easily in Kobe as in Tokyo.

But before that, they needed to tell their friends the truth.

“We have something to tell you. Well, two things, really,” Maki said.

“Are you getting married, nya?” Rin asked eagerly, provoking an excited squeal from Honoka.

“No, we’re not getting married!” Maki said, flushing. Where did Rin even get these ideas? “I… lied to you about me and Nico. About us getting together a year ago. And… well, about us dating at all.”

Most of μs gasped. Nozomi seemed unsurprised. Had she known, or was her poker face just that good? Maki suspected it was former.

“We were just faking it because Maki’s family has some crazy rules about inheriting,” Nico said, offhandedly. Maki noticed that she was still clinging to Maki’s hand under the table. Seeking reassurance that what she said wasn’t true anymore. Reminding herself that this was real. Maki squeezed her hand gently, rubbing her thumb gently over her knuckles.

“So… the two of you aren’t dating?” Hanayo sounded surprisingly sad about the news. Maki had never really figured her for a matchmaker, but she seemed genuinely let down by the idea that the two of them weren’t actually involved.

“Well… that’s… the other news…” Maki said, awkwardly. “We’re, um, dating now.”

There was a brief pause. Even Nozomi seemed a little startled this time.

Honoka was the first to speaking, looking more confused than anything else.

“So you’re telling us that you were lying about you two dating... but also you two are dating?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Yes,” Maki said.

“...So… nothing is different?” Eli asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well… I mean…” Maki was starting to feel a little silly. “No, not really...”

Rin scratched her head. “Do we say congratulations again now?” she asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for Pretending to Pretend! Big thanks to hikarihawkeye for beta reading all the chapters since chapter 3. This is the first big piece of writing I've ever done, and I honestly thought that I'd never be able to finish a longer project like this. And I definitely never expected to get this much lovely feedback from people. If I haven't replied to you, it's because I couldn't think of anything to say, but rest assured I've read all the comments, tags, and replies, and the amount of positive feedback and wonderful things people have said absolutely stunned me. Thank you so much to all of you, I'm so happy to have been able to write something that made you all happy.


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